Brina looked at her watch. It read 05:32. She should be back by now. She should have been back ages ago and would have been too if Marcus wasn’t so damned elusive. She’d been searching the streets for him every night this week to no avail. She wished he’d just come out and fight; but no, he seemed to have gone into hiding. He was planning something, she could tell, and whatever it was it was not going to be good; not for her, not for the humans, not for any of them.
Fang growled beside her. He knew, as she did, that they couldn’t stay much longer. Dawn was coming, she could smell it, feel it. Daylight wasn’t for the likes of them. Theirs was the night. She preferred it that way now. For the first century or so she had missed the sun. Now she wouldn’t have it any other way. She was good at her job and liked it and the perks that came with it. She’d been brought into this life abruptly and against her will but she had settled into it quite nicely. Sure, there were down sides but all in all she was… well maybe not happy exactly but she was content… ish.
She had been, at least, until Xandra had gone and dumped Waylan on her. Sometimes she hated that bitch. Why did she have to play babysitter when there were hundreds of others who’d do? Others that would be far better at it and who actually liked people. If she’d learnt anything in her one-thousand-six-hundred-and-fifty-something years it was that you couldn’t trust people.
She hadn’t always been so sceptical. There had been a time, a rather long time ago… But no, she wouldn’t think about that, couldn’t think about it. Even now the betrayal still cut her deeply. Yes, things were far better now. The only person she could trust was herself. The past held nothing but bad memories and she couldn’t let herself be distracted by them, not when there was a crazed murderer on the loose. The sooner she killed Marcus the sooner Waylan would be gone and she and Fang could get back to their old life.
Fang gave her a little nudge as if he agreed with her. She smiled down at him. He really was magnificent. His dark grey pelt shimmered in the moonlight and his eyes sparkled with intelligence. He padded along beside her, his huge paws making not a sound. She loved her wolf. She knew that he wasn’t really hers. He stayed with her out of choice and she wouldn’t be able to stop him if he ever did decide to leave. But she loved him all the more for that.
A cry echoed in the night. She felt Fang go tense beside her. His ears were pricked and he had his hackles up. He bared his teeth and gave a low growl before sprinting into a dark alleyway. She was right behind.
The darkness was near complete, the buildings either side blocking out the light. A human would struggle to see more than a foot in front of them but Brina had no trouble seeing in the dark.
A muffled sob came from the end of the alley. Swift and silent, the pair headed straight for it. They were there in seconds, her inhuman speed another of the advantages. She could make out four, no five figures – two human, three not. The humans appeared to be in their late teens; one male, one female. Of the others, the vampires, she recognised Lorcán who seemed to be the leader of the trio. A toned six foot eight, he had long black hair, pitch black eyes and a love for cruelty that was matched only by his lust for blood. He was the cruel, powerful and frighteningly intelligent right hand man and most trusted adviser to Dante, the self-proclaimed ruler of the vampires. Between Lorcán and Dante, which she hated more was a tough choice.
