The Dresdan Coven Trilogy Read online

  The overall mission made sense: Ensure human continuity. And she didn't want to die. Not by a vampire's hand, anyway. If vampires took over, human downfall would be eminent. But there were politics in the ongoing structure that warranted her attention.

  She passed one of the labs that kept live humans. LBs or Live Bodies were what she'd heard these people referred to as. Basically, they were humans who'd given up their bodies in the name of scientific research. More often than not, the humans were sick or had terminal illnesses, but there were a few accounts of healthy individuals agreeing to have tests performed on them.

  The shades weren't drawn closed in one of the labs, and she caught a glimpse of a middle-aged man sitting on a metal operating table. He was stark naked and devoid of all body hair. A nurse pulled a machine up beside the table and took his blood pressure reading. The middle-aged man wasn't the only subject in the room. There was at least a handful more being monitored by the nursing staff.

  The man caught her stare through the glass. He didn't look happy. His expression was cold and unfeeling.

  Elaina was loyal to the mission, but she often wondered if she would acquiesce if it came down to her being sent to labs for testing in that manner. Her passion was in tactics, so she knew without a doubt that becoming a lab rat wasn't a desirable choice for her.

  There was already a staff member waiting for her when Elaina arrived at Station B1.

  "D-33?" the young woman asked. She looked to be in her mid to late twenties.

  After confirming her identity, Elaina sat down in the hard metal chair and placed her arm on the rest. She'd gotten the injections many times before, mostly when there was a big assignment coming up. It was never a surprise anymore. In a couple days, she would probably get another email with an assignment order attached to it.

  "It says here that this will be your last monitored injection. Today, you will go home with your own kit. Do you understand how to administer the injections yourself?"

  "I do."

  The woman handed her the elastic strip and a needle filled with clear blue liquid. "Go ahead, D-33. Let's see what you can do."

  In less than a minute, Elaina had found a vein and injected the serum.

  "Do you understand when the injections need to happen?" the tech asked.

  "Right before every assignment."

  The woman nodded and scribbled on her clipboard. "I need you to sign here, here, and here, indicating that you will not misuse, under use, or over use the injections." She pointed to three read X's on the page. "They will be replenished as assignments are given. You agree by acknowledging you were informed."

  Elaina grabbed the fountain pen and wrote her new alias: D-33.

  Just as Elaina was about to exit through the double doors, a loud boom echoed from the other side of the space. She spun around to see two male staff members hauling a screaming girl into the room. The high-pitched squeals were unnerving. The girl managed to claw one of the male staff across the face, cutting into the skin and drawing blood. The screaming girl broke free, and yet another man joined in to drag her farther into the room.

  Elaina was so shocked that her feet were rooted to the floor as she processed the scene before her.

  "Let me go," the girl screamed.

  "She's infected! Get her on the table and in the straps!" someone yelled.

  The girl's gaze was wild with fear and filled with something else. Her eyes were shaded with a red filter, something that only happened when an individual came in contact with vampire blood. Dresdan blood to be exact. The whites of their eyes turned a muted red when they were riding high on aggression.

  The girl let out another blood-curdling scream that could have shattered the glass in the room. She bared her teeth and hissed, and her eyes glossed over as if she were possessed.

  They managed to slam her down on a hard metal table where she flopped about until all of her limbs plus her midsection were strapped tightly to the slab.

  "The infection has set in for far too long. She's gone. We're going to have to turn her over to Level B."

  Level B. It was where the infected staff was placed in small observation rooms. Many of them perished there. Hardly any of them crossed over or changed while in that state.

  "D-33! Exit the room!" the young woman who had injected Elaina earlier ordered.

  Elaina could not tear her eyes away from the sight of the girl. Infected and crazed out of her mind, but yet she looked so young and innocent. What had happened to her?

  One of the straps on the table popped as the girl fought against her bonds. She began to choke on her own blood, puddles of it pouring out of her mouth and onto the lab floor.

  "Blood! We need blood!" one of the male staffed yelled.

  "D-33! Out!"

  Elaina tore her eyes away from the sight and pushed the double doors open. Her legs shook as she quickened her pace, and before long, she was running down the corridors back to the training fields.

  When she reached the outside again, she exhaled violently and doubled over in exertion.

  "Oh my gosh," she whispered softly to herself. She prayed the girl received help. No one should have to go through that.

  But in her mind, Elaina somehow knew it was too late for the girl.

  There was no known cure for the infection. There was only prevention. There was no going back now. The young girl's death was imminent.

  Chapter 3

  Just as Elaina had expected, she received a text alert that evening. The message instructed her that the details of the night’s assignment had been emailed to her. After training class had ended, her plan was to sleep in until her real shift began, but as soon as she drifted off, memories of the infected girl's screams came back to her.

  The insides of her mouth were now raw from biting her lips in worry and aggravation over what happened on Level E inside Station B. What had happened to the girl?

  The fear that had been instilled in all District 5 contractors and employees was if they didn't take the injections as supplied and prescribed, then the same fate might await them.

  Only a small percentage of the human population could sustain life with a vampire infection. One of D5's missions was to find out how to identify those people, and talk them into willingly supplying their DNA or giving access to their bodies in the name of scientific research. There had been many leads since the research project began—and even before Elaina signed her employment contract—but as soon as the key researchers insisted they had something, the individual would turn up missing.

  The only way to determine if someone could actually live with a vampire infection was to let him or her become infected.

  If the person turned out like the girl in the labs, then it ultimately meant death. But what D5 was trying to obtain was a person capable of contracting the vampire infection without dying. A person that could become a hybrid, a cross between a human and a vampire. A breed that would stand up for humans to prevent bloodsuckers from taking over the world.

  Elaina rose from the hammock on her patio, took one last look at the tops of the city buildings and towers below her, and walked through the sliding glass doors to enter her condo. D5 paid the room and board for all contractors, but trackers were required to use D5 housing. The best thing about the job was probably the downtime, free room and board, and the fact that she didn't have to cook, clean, or do any of the things she’d had to do when she had her own apartment. The condo she lived in was quite elaborate. Top of the line structure. Valet parking, courteous staff, and thorough cleaning services. She had nothing to complain about here.

  Her laptop was already open on her bar. She used her thumbprint to power it on and entered a series of passcodes to get into her email.

  "Vampire crew sighting in the area 25 miles north of your location in the vicinity of Heagert Community College where 2 students were murdered while walking home from a party…witness confirmed 3 vampire entities carrying the bodies away and they were found in a remote field drained a
nd dead within hours by campus security.…vampire attacks have been attempted nightly with the same description of the suspects: 3 deadly vampires. 6PM campus curfew in effect. Risk level: 7/10 - Unit Members Assigned: D-209, D-33, D-0008, D-57. Assignment: Track and Execute. You have 24 hours from midnight to complete this assignment."

  Elaina's last track and execute assignment—which she and her unit had successfully completed—had been just three nights ago. A risk level seven wasn't all that bad. It probably meant the vampires were young; not the older, stronger ones that the District wished to get their hands on to study and take blood from so that they could farm a hybrid in the labs.

  Her highest risk level ever had been an eight, where she and six other D5 trackers were sent to take out rogue vampires responsible for the murders of five families, all in one neighborhood. Fledgling and rogue vampires usually rolled in cliques. They needed numbers where they lacked in strength because they weren’t as strong as a full-fledged Dresdan. Her unit had found the slumbering place of each one and then set fire to them during the day. Fire weakened vampires just like UV light. Concentrating the fire to one area had weakened them beyond reason, stripping their strength. The seals to their coffins had broken open, exposing them to the sun. Since her unit had the upper hand, two or three shots to the head had ensured an instant kill.

  Elaina peeled out of her pajamas and pulled her work attire from the closet. A black leather jumpsuit that she wore because it allowed free and quick movement. She owned exactly five jumpsuits. No pastel colors were allowed. Light colors attracted vampires the most. Not that she was interested in wearing pink and yellow dresses to a vampire slaying anyway.

  She tugged on her boots, strapped them up, and then wrapped her thick mane of hair into a tight bun against the back of her head. After grabbing her tote bag of weapons, she pulled the door closed behind her and took twelve flights of stairs down to the lobby to meet the other three members of her work unit for tonight.

  Danny, who was known as D-209, pushed off a wall near the door when she came down. D-0008 and D-57, both males, had just walked off the elevators.

  D-209 grinned. "Ready for some fun?"

  D-0008 cracked a smile, gnawing on chewing gum. He ordered boxes of it every week and had them shipped directly to the front desk. A different flavor for every day. "Lead the way, Boss."

  Chapter 4

  Elaina and her crew caught the gang of rogue vampires in the act not too far from campus. It was easy to scout out the bloodsucking murderers. All they had to do was follow their instincts, which led them to a frat party. The six o’clock curfew didn’t extend off campus, so, of course, the off-site partygoers didn’t heed the warnings.

  As the music blasted from the open windows of the two-story mansion that housed about a dozen frat boys during the semester, rogue vampires were in the process of sucking their victims dry. It was possible that no one heard their screams or even noticed they were gone. By the amount of noise coming from the interior, there looked to be a good amount of partiers crowded inside.

  Elaina made out the three vampires feeding on a human male and female through her riflescope. By their state of half-dress, she figured they’d been making out before the rogues struck. How unfortunate.

  Her post was on the roof of an adjacent, unoccupied mansion. The other three members of her unit were on the ground, surrounding the vampire suspects in an attempt to prevent escape—if they tried.

  The vampires were too involved in feeding to realize they were caught and about to be shot dead. Well, dead was an understatement. Executed. Blasted from the face of the Earth.

  But one wrong move from any of Elaina’s crew, and they would all be busted and possibly fail their mission. The vampires could disappear at any moment, free to murder again, which would be the worst case scenario. Even worse still, however, the rogues could turn on Elaina’s crew, and they’d become the victims.

  Since her crew had been given orders to execute, the best way to do that was to strike from afar with little to no contact—which also ensured a successful kill.

  Elaina already had her assigned target in her scope before the order was given by Danny to shoot.

  When she fired, her bullet hit the target clean through the head. Even though she was far away, she could tell she had a direct hit by the way the vampire’s head popped back from the force of her bullet.

  The other shots were fired almost simultaneously. The rogues never had a chance as each team member’s aim was precisely positioned to kill. The vampires withered away next to their human victims, never really knowing what had hit them.

  Elaina wished all assignments and rogue executions were this clean, but she knew that wasn’t possible. The rogues were weaker than full-blooded Dresdan, especially if they were just made. And by the way these three had mindlessly attacked the college campus night after night, anyone could tell they’d been desperate for blood and too weak to prey on anything other than students.

  Tonight’s assignment was completed. Three murderous predators were off the streets, but, of course, there were hundreds, possibly thousands more to go.

  Chapter 5

  Vampires were fucking all over the goddamned club. Even in plain sight.

  Vicq could sense it in the air, see it at every turn he made around a corner, and could even taste the erotic thrill in the blood exchanges being made that night.

  It was an initiation night, which meant a human had recently been turned and welcomed into a coven. Besides Vicq's, there were four other covens here tonight in the bar. They had traveled from all the way across the country to get here. It was a good thing many of his coven members were strong enough and old enough that they didn't need to travel the human way. Shifting from city to city in tandem at the speed of light made the trip shorter. Of course, it never allowed time to enjoy the views.

  "The weather is nice here," Eli said from across the booth. A vampiress was cuddled up beside the young scientist, her thigh draped across his lap and her fingertips tracing his bare chest.

  "Of course," Vicq agreed. "It's not like the east coast."

  "The chicks are hot, too," Eli said, grinning at the vampiress, who looked content to be his toy for the night.

  "You southern vamps are always so straightforward," the vampiress commented. "Too bad you can't stay."

  Vicq turned away as the two became intimate in the booth. Tonight was the perfect excuse to be reckless and indulge with no worries or cares, but for some reason, he wasn't up to it. He'd refused every female vampire in here that had freely offered herself for anything more than a little blood. He was glad his coven members could take part. With all of the tension back home and the rogues crossing into their territories, he was sure the party was a relief to many.

  "Go get us some drinks," Eli told the female.

  She immediately got up and sauntered off through the crowd toward the bar.

  When she was gone, Eli leaned over the table and said, "You're not having fun."

  Vicq shrugged. "I'm not the partying type. I just like to chill and save all my energy for the thrill of the hunt.“

  "That's not it. You’re not the type to get a thrill out of killing your own kind, not even those poor rogues. I sense you’re overthinking things.”

  "You do?"

  "Don't worry. Our sanctuary is secure. Not even a bear has made it past the barriers we set up. There's nothing that can get past without us knowing."

  "I don't know about you, Eli, but I don't plan to spend my nights hidden behind the walls of that sanctuary. It doesn't help that we're hunted by both our kind and this vampire slaughtering agency."

  "Ah, but that agency is mostly killing rogues, so that's less work for us. And we’re not rogues.”

  "To a human, a vampire is a vampire. To that shady agency, a vampire is a killer. In their eyes, we are the enemy. Do you think they would hesitate to kill you because you are not a rogue?" Vicq asked.

  "Good point."

  "Plus, we hav
e sound evidence that rogues aren't their only target. They've hunted Dresdan for years and have even managed to take out some of the older ones."

  "But now we know what we're up against. We won't walk into their traps like the rogues or those under Russo’s orders. You told us before that we have to wait for the right time to strike and shut down this vampire killing agency."

  Vicq clenched his fist on the table. “Someone will pay for the ill-treatment and senseless terrorism, and for those who have perished at the hands of those bastards.”

  Chapter 6

  Vicq and the attending members of his coven didn’t leave the initiation party until well past 3AM. They were halfway across the country when they realized that they were being followed. The blood scent lingering in Vicq’s wake wasn’t familiar and didn’t belong to any he knew. Vicq called out to his coven members where they gathered at a deserted bus station. Since they traveled in groups by trailing each other’s blood scent, it took some time for everyone under his command that night to appear. Trailing was the vampire equivalent of following someone, or in this case, tracking someone down without their knowledge.

  “Some of us are being trailed,” Melrose said. The redheaded, former lead guitarist was one of the first to fully materialize in front of Vicq.

  “I sense it, too.” That could only mean that there was more than one suspect. Vicq’s fangs dropped as he picked up on more unwanted presences among his coven members. Many unwanted presences.

  Eli unfolded beside him, his eyes burning red. “And they aren’t rogues…”

  Rogue vampires had a slightly different blood scent than that of their Dresdan brethren. Because they killed humans when they drank, they always smelled of the bile and other unsanitary elements of their victims. Those things associated with the scent of fear right before death.