Derek followed Dracula and Neena up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway. He watched as Dracula punched a code into the keypad that was next to the door that they’d stopped in front of. The electric door lock unlocked, and the door opened. Dracula and Neena made their way inside and the door closed behind them. It suddenly became clear to Derek that Dracula was the owner of this new Goth club in San Francisco. Just what the hell is he up to? Clubs tended to attract tourists, which were ideal pickings for vampires. Crap. Was this club ‘bait’ for potential prey? Derek mused darkly.
Derek peered down at the dance floor from the mezzanine and spotted Slaine dragging Becca through the crowd towards the exit. There was an odd sense of urgency around Slaine that Derek didn’t like one bit. It instantly put him on edge and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
Derek rushed down the stairs and exited the club. He spotted Slaine’s Lamborghini driving away and was about to head to his Rover when - he smelled blood. Human blood. You gotta be kidding me.
Derek ran to the alleyway that was directly next to the club and entered. He ran down the alley until he reached the far end where it was pitch-black. His eyes cut through the darkness and what he saw was - two human girls with their arms wrapped around each other out of fear. Three vampire males stood in front of them, and one of the vampires already had a human female in his arms that he was feeding from while his buddies egged him on.
Crap! “Hey! Let her go!” Derek called out as he took his jacket off and began to roll up his shirtsleeves to expose his battle tattoos. The vampires and girls all turned to look at Derek. The vampires leered at Derek menacingly until his blue Celtic animal tattoos were revealed.
“Oh crap! It’s a Hunter!” “Crap…what’s a Hunter doing here?” The vampires burst out.
The vampire who’d been feeding from the poor girl tossed her aside like a piece of garbage, and prepared to fight Derek. Derek hoped she was still alive.
“Hey, girls. Look into my eyes.” Derek called out to the two frightened girls. They immediately looked into his eyes and he used hypnosis to knock them out cold so that he could use magic without any human witnesses. Derek raised his arms before him and summoned his magical power. He willed his wolf, panther and python tattoos to peel off his arms and materialize.
The ink creatures were about the size of what the creatures would be out in the wild, but their bodies were translucent, blue-tinged and shimmery. Once the ink creatures had leapt down from his arms, they stood beside him, and Derek gave them an order. “Attack!”
The ink creatures attacked the vampires, who quickly fought back. The ink panther wasted no time in leaping at one vampire, pushing him to the ground, and biting into his neck. “No! Get him off of me! Get him off!” The vampire cried out as he struggled against the panther, but to no avail. The panther ripped the vampire’s head off and he disintegrated into dust.
The python slithered across the dirty ground towards one of the vampires and began to coil around its body. It swiftly slithered up the vampire’s body until it was coiling around the vampire’s neck. “No! Curses!” The vampire cried out as his head was severed from his shoulders and he disintegrated.
One left. “Get him!” Derek told the wolf.
This last vampire was a little stronger than the others, and fought back with his fangs and claws. But in the end the wolf grabbed his neck and bit down hard. “No! You punk! Dracula will kill you for this!” The vampire cried out as he was decapitated and disintegrated into a pile of dust to join his fellows.
“Derek?” Came a tentative sounding male voice.
Derek spun around to see Garth and Malakye standing in entrance to the alley.
Garth looked at the piles of dust on the ground quizzically. “What the hell happened here?”
“Oh my God…that poor woman!” Malakye rushed to the side of the fallen woman with the bite wound on her neck. He took her pulse by pressing his fingers to her throat. “She’s still alive. Derek…did you do this?” He asked in a hesitant manner.
Derek let out a frustrated huff. “Of course, I didn’t. I already told you guys. I don’t feed from humans. There were three vampires here…I killed them.”
“Vampires.” Garth spoke up and his brow furrowed. “You mean, these piles of dust were…?”
Derek nodded, his expression bleak. “Yeah. When you decapitate a vampire they turn to dust.”
Garth’s golden eyes widened and he scratched the back of his neck. “Uh, let me get this straight. You just killed those of your own kind?” His voice was tinged with surprise.
Derek’s eyes narrowed dangerously at Garth. “They are not my kind! I’m nothing like them. I don’t feed from humans and so my eyes aren’t red like theirs. Also, I happen to be a Druid Vampire Hunter. I’ve been a Hunter for more than two thousand years!”
“You’re a Vampire Hunter?” Garth frowned at this new revelation. “Why didn’t you ever tell us about this?”
Derek sighed and ran a hand back through his hair. “And put you guys in danger? No way. This is my fight.”
Garth stalked towards Derek and punched him hard across the face. “Idiot! We’re your friends. We got your back. Whether you like it or not. And just so you know. You’re really making me angry with all this crap.” The shifter’s eyes flashed red.
“Crap.” Derek wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Garth hit hard! “You’re right. I’m sorry, bro. It’s just…I’m used to being alone. For two millennia I’ve hunted vampires and without anyone’s help.”
Garth seemed to calm down considerably at Derek’s words. He let out a deep breath and the orange fur that had started to appear disappeared from his face. “Naw, it’s okay. I forgive you.”
“Hey guys…this girl needs immediate medical attention. Should we call an ambulance?” Malakye asked and began to wring his hands together. “What if she dies?”
Derek was about to open his mouth when there was a great flash of light and then a tinkling female voice spoke. “There’s no need for that, gentlemen.”
The guys turned around to see what could only be an angel. The woman had a bob of short, curly, white-blonde hair, and wide, blue eyes with long, dark lashes. She had a heart-shaped face, and pink pouty lips. The angel was wearing silver armor - a breast plate, a metal skirt with spikes on it, greaves and gauntlets. She had a broadsword strapped to her side. A pair of white, feathery wings was outstretched behind her. She would have looked majestic…if not for the fact that she was sucking on a lollipop.
“An angel?” Garth asked.
“An Archangel maybe.” Malakye eyed her sword and wings with a wary look on his face. It the was the Archangels who’d destroyed his home planet of Flos Luna eons ago.
“Someone give the boy a prize.” Uriel strolled over to the fallen woman, knelt by her side, and reached out to place her hand over the bite wound. She summoned her power and her hand was bathed in a golden light. Right before their eyes the woman’s wound began to heal. “Don’t worry about her. I’ll heal her.”
“Who the hell are you?” Derek demanded while giving her a suspicious look.
Uriel’s lip twitched with amusement. “I am Archangel Uriel. I’ve been assigned to be your guardian angel, Derek Dearg. Congratulations.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. She was definitely an odd angel.
Derek gawked at her. “My guardian angel? Are you sure you guys haven’t screwed up some paperwork in Heaven?”
Uriel snorted. “You wish. But enough about that. There’s no time. Rebecca Thorn is in grave danger, Derek. Slaine plans to turn her into a vampire this very night. You must go to her and take your friends with you. You won’t stand a chance against Slaine on your own. He’s gotten incredibly powerful over the last few centuries. You must not underestimate him.” She waved her pink lollipop at him to punctuate her words.
“Becca.” Derek turned to give Garth and Malakye a questio
ning look. “Will-?”
“Don’t even finish that sentence, man.” Garth interrupted with a fierce look on his face. “Of course we’ll help you.”
Malakye stood up and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Derek gave his friends an emotional look. “Thanks, guys.
The trio piled into the Rover, and Derek headed for Slaine’s apartment building as fast at the hunk of junk would go, hoping that he wasn’t already too late.