Night Lurks Read online

  Night Lurks

  By Amber Lynn

  Copyright © 2013 Amber Lynn

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Warning: This book is the musings of a foulmouthed female assassin with Violence for a middle name. Reader discretion is advised due to language, violence, and sexual content.

  Another book is done and I am so happy that it has come to this point in my Nyx series. I have decided for the current storyline there will be two more books after this one. I am sure in the end that I will leave the door open for more adventures, but by the conclusion of the seventh I think I will be happy where things stand for at least a little while.

  Since the last book, I have found a group of great gals that were willing to take a chance and read the first three, or four, books for me and let me know what they thought. I have to thank them for all of their feedback. It is really helping me figure out my strengths and weaknesses.

  I am still learning things every day as I venture into this great world of storytelling. As long as I continue to have fun writing stories, I am going to keep at it. I don’t think it will cause any damage to others and it greatly helps clean up space in my brain.

  Okay, enough talk, on with the book.

  Chapter 1

  Cleanup in aisle six

  Battle. It is what I live for. If you play around in the thesaurus, I think you can get to it by one or two degrees of separation from slaughter, so it is practically my last name. I actually spent most of my life not having a last name. In the paranorm world, your last name represents the blood that flows through your veins. With no one knowing where my DNA came from, it was something that was just ignored. After enough fights, I was finally deemed worthy enough to be given my surname. Knowing what it is, you can imagine what I went through to get it.

  I have a feeling that I am going to need all of the skills I have cultivated over the years to win the fight that I currently face. Sebastian has been kidnapped by an evil succubus. I cannot stand by and twiddle my thumbs. I have about three days to find him before the witch gets her whip out and takes her pound of flesh in the process.

  Why someone thinks it is funny to play around with our relationship is really grating on me. We have already succeeded in establishing an unbreakable bond between us. Why would our connection need to go through more tests? It is pretty clear we are head over heels for each other. Nothing can come between us. I guess the wolf standing next to me is kind of in that position, but we are figuring out how to make that work.

  My list of things I need to do to get Sebastian safely home is growing by the second. Finding a way to kill demons in general is really high on my list. I wish Ben would get back here with some useful information for me. At the same time, I wonder just how long it takes Dante to procure a blood donor for Marcus. There are so many questions that I need answered that I know it won't be long before I just start screaming them out. Acting like a crazy woman wasn't exactly how I wanted to be introduced to the other vampires at this conference.

  “Breathe,” Alex suggests as he brushes a loose strand of hair away from my face. “It has only been five minutes since you dispatched them. We have time. When has it ever taken you longer than a couple of days to run one of your targets to ground?”

  I take a deep breath and try to find some inner calm to help me get through the next few minutes. “Why does that never work for me?” I ask curious as to whether the exercise works for anyone. Everyone always tells me to try to use that method and it just ends up irritating me because of its lack of helpfulness.

  “I have my theories, but now is not the time to discuss them. For now, I will just have to remember to never suggest it again. Thankfully, Dante is back and maybe he can better inform us on what we are up against. I have no experience with the creatures he named.”

  “Sorry it took so long. Everyone kept stopping me with questions. I told them we are working to set things right and I directed them to where they should go to find food for anyone injured. I have a feeling no one else took as much damage as us, but they like to be reassured,” Dante says as he brings a girl over to Marcus and gets the feeding process started. With so much on my mind, I don't take notice of the person, other than she is female, and I focus right in on Dante. I notice that he looks to be in better health than when he left, meaning he stopped for a quick sip himself. He needs to be in good form too, so I cannot fault him for the meal.

  “What can you tell me about the attack? Was Candace here?” I am sure Sebastian gave the guards a detailed description to know what to at least attempt to kill on sight. In the crowd I have seen thrown about the room, it wouldn't be hard to notice the blonde vixen. She probably has strobe lights installed to draw attention to herself. Evidently, there aren't enough mean things for my mind to think about the evil cow. It just keeps coming up with more.

  “The Kurkua and Shagles are male species and I only saw guys. Once the Kurkua subdued me and Marcus enough, they grabbed Bastian and ran. Their finger blades are dipped with poison and usually it doesn't have the knock down effect you witnessed, but we both probably took twenty or more injections of the crap. Marcus took even more than me, as you saw.”

  “Don't you think he has had enough?” Alex asks gesturing towards Marcus still slurping on his dinner. I need Marcus up and kicking as soon as possible and the girl isn't showing any signs of needing a break. I don't want him to drink her until she lacks a heartbeat, but just short of that, I am okay.

  “He knows his limit,” I reply. “Back to the demon discussion, how do you know so much about these things?”

  “When you are stuck living with a hated vampire, like I was for way too many years, you get used to having mercenary demons show up at your door. Alan took care of most of the uglies, but I did witness a couple of the fights. He always defeated them, but usually there were only one or two. Nowhere near the number we saw today.”

  “I need you to do a favor for me then. I need you to go find Alan and bring him to me. If you happen to wander across Smitty on your journey, you can tell him he has two hours to make himself known to me before I shoot on sight the next time I see him.” Smitty was already on my bad list. The fact that he may not have been around to help when Sebby needed him really pisses me off. What good is a guard if they don't stay at their post?

  Dante gives me a brief look of nervousness before he darts off in a hurry to complete his task. I know it wasn't nice for me to send him after a man he tries to avoid like every plague known to man, but he is the only person I have handy that knows what Alan looks like and if Alan has some insight on these demons, I need to have a little chat with him.

  “What are we going to do with the rest of these vampires?” Alex asks drawing my attention to the room full of vampires that look to be coming out of their stupors. I am seeing a lot of males and, so far, no females. The lack of women at the vampire summit irritates me a bit, but it pales in comparison to the other things on my mind currently. I will just have to remember to bring it up to Sebastian the next time I see him.

  “I guess I will have to deal with it,” I say and walk over towards a raised platform. One may call it a stage, but it isn't high enough off the ground, in my mind.
“Excuse me. All of you sleeping beauties listen up. Anyone have any information about what went on here today?” I figure asking how everyone is feeling is too out of character for me. I might as well just get to the nitty gritty.

  “Who are you to ask?” someone yells from the back of the crowd that has now gathered in the center of the room. They are speedy little things banding together so quickly. Judging from the tone of the one, they aren't happy to see me. They can just take a number and get in line behind all of the other people that are annoyed by me. I hear it wraps around a couple of blocks, so they have some waiting to do.

  “I am the one who is trying to get her mate back as quickly as possible. I have heard about the crazy wind and blade demons that made a mess of this nice establishment, but I was hoping someone might have more information.” I don't trust the look in most of their eyes, so I draw my Beretta. When in doubt, get armed. I won't kill them with its ammunition, but it may detract them from jumping on me. I don't know how old they are and it is only me and Alex against a ton of them. Even I don't like those odds.

  “I don't think you sufficiently answered the question. You aren't exactly one of us and I don't think we need to cooperate with an outsider to solve the problem of what happened here,” another man says as he separates himself from the pack and makes his way a little closer to me. This man looks the part of the vampire as imagined by the likes of Bram Stoker. The black hair, black cape, and painted on red lips are a bit much for me personally, but if that is what floats his boat, I am not going to mention how ridiculous he looks. His fangs are showing and they aren't the little baby variety. I believe he has a few centuries on me in the age department.

  “The short and dirty version is that I am Nyx Slaughter and Sebastian is my mate. I would like to retrieve him from the succubus that had him snatched. Do you have any information that would be useful?” I ask the man and I am happy to see that he stopped his path a good eight feet away. I hope everyone understands that I am not afraid to use the gun. With this crowd, I kind of want to pull out my Colt. I am afraid the bullets would do too much damage to the vampires, though. If they get really out of hand, I will draw it, but I am going to try to reason with them first.

  “Ah. The Collective's retired little assassin. I have been hearing grand tales about you in the circles I travel. Sebastian must be getting really desperate to bond with the likes of you,” tall, dark, and creepy replies. I already really dislike this guy. It is a feeling I get with just about everyone I meet. This guy's general demeanor is making it worse than usual.

  “Do you know anything about the attack or not?” I say making sure my gun is squarely centered on his forehead. A shot there should at least stun his brain functioning for a few minutes, just enough time for me to subdue him and save a spot on my dance card to thump him a little later.

  “Um, Nyx,” Dante says returning to my side. I cannot glance over at the moment, but his voice indicates he wasn't successful with his mission. The jerkwad Alan probably ran at the first sign of danger. I bet he is on his way to Australia by now.

  “Yes, Dante.”

  “You found who you are looking for without my help,” he replies and I notice that he is actually standing just a little bit behind me. My guards tend to like to be in front of me in case I need protection. I don't think I have seen one hoping to use me as a shield.

  My full attention goes back to the vampire in front of me. This is the wonderful Alan that I have heard so much about? Obviously, Sebastian hasn't beaten him down enough. Maybe I can rectify that for Sebastian while he is away.

  “You must really be scary if you convinced Dante to go looking for me. The coward has been running from me for years.”

  “Well, I try. You wouldn't happen to be willing to accompany us so I can pick your brain?” I am sure the answer will be no, but I have to ask.

  “Ha. Ha. Ha,” he replies spacing the sounds out pretending to laugh. “I don't think so. Sebastian finding himself dead helps my cause immensely. At his death, the leadership of our kind reverts to you, but I don't think I will have an issue defeating you in a fight for the throne.”

  He should have done some reading up on the subject before making claims like that. I am sure he will learn in the days to come what a silly thing that was to say. I fire my gun without a warning and it has the desired effect. He doesn't have time to react and the bullet hits his skull just as I planned. Down to the ground he goes.

  “Dante, you are a guard so I am hoping you have some kind of restraint for him. Can you see to that?” I ask and he hurries to complete his assignment with only a second of hesitation. I like that he is more afraid of me than Alan. It is probably more Sebastian that scares him, but I don't mind a little ego boost.

  “I still think you shoot a little too quickly,” Alex says as I make my way over to Marcus. The girl is gone and he has propped himself up. The blood soaked clothing prevents me from seeing what kind of shape he is in.

  “I am in a hurry right now,” I say waving my hand in Alex's direction. “Marcus, do you think you are in good enough shape to travel?”

  “Of course,” he replies simply.

  “Alex, can you confirm we have a jet ready for transport? I want to get back home where I have more resources. I don't think anyone else will be much help around here.” Even if they could help, the display of my shooting skills will probably tie up a few tongues.

  “Will do. There is at least one fueled and ready to go at all times.” He walks a little ways away to make the call.

  “I am sorry I failed, my queen,” Marcus says as I attempt to make him vertical. It isn't an easy task with our height difference.

  “Have you seen the condition you are in? I don't think there is much more you could have done. I imagine you need to take it easy for at least a few more minutes. I will leave my grilling until we get to the plane.”

  “Sebastian would have loved the way you handled Alan. He has been dying to shoot the bastard for years, but it is against the rules,” he says and successfully draws himself up to his full height.

  “I thought Sebastian made all the rules. Can't he just adjust them a little to better suit his needs?”

  “He is too honorable for that. I do hope someone was taping the confrontation for him, though.”

  It was something Sebby should have been here to witness for himself. We could have both had a great laugh over it, but instead I need to kick into full on search and rescue mode. I really hope someday soon we find a way to eliminate all of the threats hanging over our heads, so we can find a way to just settle down as one big happy family.

  Chapter 2

  News flash: Rhymes and riddles annoy me

  When we get to the plane, I am happy to find there is a nice little holding cell to store Alan. Leave it to Alex to have a jet equipped with one. Alan's brain is back to functioning at full capacity and he isn't too happy about being trussed up, if his struggles are any indication. Dante added a couple of layers of duct tape to his mouth and that seems to be pissing Alan off more than anything else. Until we get him back to the dungeon, I prefer the silence, or at least the muffled grunts.

  With him secure, I settle into my seat next to Alex. He immediately takes my hand and starts rubbing his thumb across my skin. At the moment, it is a welcome gesture. His touch grounds me and keeps my head from telling the rest of my body to just start killing things. I don't like feeling frustrated and not having a clear plan of extraction in place for retrieving Sebastian upsets me. I know he has only been gone about an hour, if that, but I want him now. I am not stomping my feet on the ground in a tantrum, but it is getting close to that point.

  “Okay, I think you have had enough time to get yourself back together, Marcus. What can you tell me?” Marcus is sitting across the way from me, so I turn a little to face him. I wonder if the plane has a shower because with all the blood on him he could really use one.

  “I am sure Dante has given you the information on what did the attacking, s
o I won't waste your time repeating things. I didn't get a good look at any of their markings, which means I don't know who they report back to in the demon world. Candace had to offer them quite a big reward for there to be that many in on the attack, though. To not be working directly for their legion master, that many Kurkua in one place, fighting for a common goal, is amazing.”

  “What do you mean about not seeing their markings clearly?” I ask curious to find out more information.

  “Kurkua and Shagles are minion type demons. They make up the bottom tier of a demon legion. If I could have seen who's mark they wear, then we could have gone to their leader and tried to find out more information on the ones that did the attacking,” he explains. “Their leader might not have been able to give us much, but it would be a place to start.”

  “Dante, did you see any marks?” I ask knowing he would have already told me if he had. I hope that if he was aware of their significance, it would have been the first thing out of his mouth.

  “Everything happened so quickly that I didn't notice.”

  “Do all demons in a legion have the mark of their leader, or is it just the minions?”

  “Everyone. They think of it as some sort of honor,” Marcus answers. “It really just marks them as slaves.”

  If that is the case, then I have a demon to be really pissed off at right now. “Ben!” I yell at the top of my lungs. If I get a voicemail this time, I am so doing the palm tickling thing. I know a succubus that bears his mark and it leads me to believe that these minion demons are from his stables.

  “You rang?” Ben says appearing and looking just a tad pissed at being summoned. For now, he can just join the club.

  “She is yours,” I say not bothering to go into more detail.

  “You are going to have to be a little more informative if you expect a decent reply from me.”