From the Shadows (Hunters #1)

Chapter 7

“Is this going to be a problem for you, Diego?”

He looked down again at the photographs of the massacre. Men, women, children. All of them dead. Their faces a ghastly white, their eyes open wide in a death mask of terror. Their throats had been ripped out, and it appeared that each of them had been drained of blood.

“No, it won’t,” Diego vowed, crumpling one of the sheets in an iron fist. “Do we know who did this?”

“As of yet, no.”

Diego closed his eyes and the scene played out in his mind. He could almost smell the fear of the people who’d gathered for a night of fun. How quickly it changed as they slumped down into their chairs or simply fell to the floor. Around them there was panic, until one by one, they all succumbed to whatever had happened. “It wasn’t one person, but a coven,” he said aloud. “They descended on a birthday party and…. Well, you see what the results were.”

Borne leaned forward in his seat, his hands clasped. “Were any of them turned?”

“We’re not sure. As far as we can tell, there were fifty-four people on the guest list, but we don’t know yet if all of them are accounted for. Some of the bodies have to be… reassembled before we can determine that.”

Diego ran his finger over the images, and his mind flashed back to that night in the hospital. The screams, the pleading, the soft sigh as someone succumbed to blood loss or their injuries and perished. Then, it had enflamed his senses, driven him deeper into the bloodlust that consumed him. Now, looking at the faces of the young children who’d never see another birthday, Diego was filled with rage.

“What do we know? Anything?”

Empatia lowered her gaze, and Diego knew the answer. They had not one damn thing to work with.

“The police, the coroner, even the forensics people found nothing beyond the bodies. They’re aware the victims were….” She choked a little, her face losing all its color. “Drained. Bite marks of differing sizes over most of the bodies, flesh ripped from the victims, showed the ferocity. It’s believed they’d shared the people. The human authorities have no idea what caused it, so they’re pursuing possible ties to cults or religious fanatics.”

“It was vampires,” Diego spat, his anger nearly a writhing, swirling thing that threatened to consume him. “Don’t even pretend it wasn’t.”

“No one is pretending otherwise,” Empatia insisted, her voice full of steel. “The families put together a fund, and they’re using it to hire us to find out who the killer or killers are, because they’ve heard we’re the best in the business at tracking down killers.”

“Give them back their money,” Diego snarled, his fists clenched so tight that his nails were gouging his palms. He desperately wanted to hit someone. To show them you didn’t fuck with the people under Diego’s protection.

The ones he’d now failed.

“So you don’t want the job?”

He snapped his head up, locking gazes with his crew, who stood there, their anger palpable. They were nodding at him, because after so many years together, they knew exactly what was on his mind. “Oh, we’re doing the job, but we’re not charging to bring these… things to justice. Their victims will, hopefully, find a bit of peace from our efforts.”

Empatia was gone for a moment, and then her voice rang out in the minds of Diego’s people. “Mr. Biggs asked me to pass along his thanks. You have carte blanche for this. Whatever you need, it’s yours.”

There was a joke to be made in there, but damned if Diego’s mind was working. He couldn’t take his eyes off the photographs. Memories assailed him of the night he’d been insane with hunger, the horrors he’d committed. He stared at the images before him and could practically hear the screams as the people… wait. Something was different.

“Pull up a toxicology report,” he barked at Borne. “With this many people, they had to have done something to keep them pliant. Everyone was found in the ballroom, and yeah, they’re scared, but no one was found outside the area. How could they bring in that many vampires and not one person ran?”

Borne’s fingers danced over the keyboard of his laptop, his eyes darting back and forth. When he looked up, they were filled with rage barely contained. “They all had high levels of a combination of sedatives. The CSI found the foods, wines, and even the kid’s drinks laced with it. No matter what they ate or imbibed, they ingested this shit.”

Diego stood, his gut on fire. “I need to go to the gym,” he announced a moment before he stormed out of the room, thoughts pinging back and forth, trying to come to an understanding. He didn’t know vampires well. After what they’d done to him, he tended to stay clear unless they were the target. However, he could count on one hand the number of bloodsuckers they’d had to take down.

“You do know that most vampires don’t prey on humans, right?”

Ranna loped up beside him, matching Diego’s stride. “Not now, Ranna.” It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate her attempt, but he wasn’t in the mood for company. When she reached out and gripped his arm, Diego snarled at her. “I said, not fucking now! ”

“Use your head. Let go of those memories. You’re not that person anymore. You haven’t been in centuries. Vampires are a lot like my people. We’re maligned by authors looking to write horror stories, but the truth is, most are like anyone else. The only thing we want is to get by in the world. Like humans, we have some bad members, but we also have those who’d give the shirt off their backs to help someone in need, no matter what.”

Maybe it was the fact that their job put them against the worst of the worst. Since Diego didn’t mingle with anyone outside of the house, he really had no idea.

“Are you willing to bet your life on that?”

She nodded, her face grim. “I do that every time we go out on a mission. Each person here has my back, and I have never doubted that decision nor regretted making it.”

One vampire killed Diego. Left him on Death’s door, leaving him to plead with some deity to not let him die. To save him. He wasn’t aware it was the Devil that answered until it was too late.

“No. Vampires are demons that must be destroyed,” he snapped.

“Including you?” Ranna demanded, an edge to her voice that Diego hadn’t heard before.

“Yes!” he hissed. He was as bad as the monsters who’d committed this atrocity.

“So what about all the good you’ve done? All the lives you’ve saved? The people who’d be dead if it wasn’t for you? For us? What would have happened to Jeremy?”

Her words crept into Diego’s head. If he had died, he couldn’t help but wonder about Jeremy. Would anyone take care of him? Would he have died too? And Shay, who wasn’t afraid of Diego and had also given him absolution for his past transgressions?

“I’m a murderer,” Diego whispered, staring down at the imaginary blood that stained his hands. “For some things, no matter how badly one wishes it, there can be no forgiveness.”

He didn’t even deserve the happiness he’d felt at lunch with everyone. The only thing he was due would be a coffin buried six feet deep. He only?—

The fist that slammed into the side of his face and knocked him into the wall shocked Diego out of his thoughts. He snapped his head up to find Ranna in her wendigo form: a giantess of muscle and sinew covered by shaggy snow-white hair. Her claws were frighteningly impressive, with nails that were nothing like the ones Ranna pampered and spent a ton of money to keep looking buffed and polished. Diego had seen Ranna in action. Her fingertips could rend bone as easily as flesh. Even stone crumbled under her assault. Four inches of razor-sharp death came at the end of each finger.

“What are you doing?” Diego demanded.

“Stop being the person who beats themselves up. Fucking grow a spine,” she snarled, showing off fangs that were even more horrifying than Diego’s. “You’re so desperate to beat someone up, then try it with me!”

And she launched herself again, claws bared, and Diego knew she was seriously trying to gut him. He rolled when she landed the first punch, barely escaping the damage she could have done to him.

“Back the fuck off, Ranna,” he warned, trying to keep out of her way.

She was insanely fast, though. Having grown up in the harshest of climates—snow, storms, ice—she had to be. Her people knew it was move quickly or perish. She was able to close the gap between them in the blink of an eye. She wrapped her claw around his wrist and pulled him closer, where she proceeded to sink her teeth into his shoulder, slicing through the flesh and muscle like they were butter. He was certain she’d bitten clear through to the bone. Diego heard the crack a second before the pain shot through his body. She wasn’t letting up. She could kill Diego… if he let her.

Unlike Ranna, Diego had no alternate form. Though his skin was a whiter shade of pale, he could still pass as human if no one looked too closely. Ranna needed the magicks passed down by her ancestors to accomplish it. Diego flicked his claws open, and the next time she reached for him, he raked them over her face. Her howl and the way she desperately pawed at the ripped-open skin scared the shit out of Diego. He’d done this to someone he considered a friend.

Empatia, I need a doctor right away .

Sending a medical team to your location.

He was grateful she didn’t ask why, because he wasn’t sure he could explain what had happened. How he’d lost control. How it was more blood on his hands—literally.

Team is a few minutes out.

Ignore that, Em. Ranna stood to her full height of nearly nine feet, the crimson staining her fur. She turned to Diego and gave a blood-smeared smile that would have lesser beings cowering in fear or making them seek therapy for life. “Do you see the difference now, dumbass?” She lumbered toward him, her muscles straining. As Diego watched, the scores on her face vanished as if they’d never existed. “Any predator would take advantage of his prey’s weakness and finish the job. You worried for my safety. Those pictures? You were angry on behalf of the humans who’d been killed, instead of saying the weak died so the strong could live. Tell me, in what world could that be considered a monster?”

“She’s right, you know,” Shay chimed in as he stepped around the corner. “You could have killed me easily enough.” He shrugged. “You’re smart. You could have found a way to get rid of the body, made it look like I’d simply left. Did you do that? No. You were so afraid of hurting me, you locked yourself away. I told you Diego, I know monsters, and you’re not one of them.”

“How long were you there?” Diego snapped.

“Long enough.” He nodded at Ranna. “Could you excuse us?”

She snorted, then turned and loped away, returning to human form before she reached the end of the hallway, seemingly not caring that she was naked.

“Come with me,” Shay insisted. Without waiting, he grabbed Diego’s hand and dragged him along. “I get that you’re dealing with several literal lifetimes of pain from what happened to you. You fully expected that the team or Jeremy would reject you and you’d be alone again. Am I right?”

The screams. The pleading. The wheeze of the last breath as someone died. The prayers for protection that went unheeded. Diego was no better than those who’d massacred the wedding party .

“They killed children,” he snarled, unable to keep the anger from his voice.

“They did, but there’s one thing you have to remember. Because one of any species kills, doesn’t mean the entire group is the same. After what happened to me, I could have become angry and bitter, but instead, I tried to make myself a better person. One who wasn’t so trusting or stupid. Someone who’s worthy of being smiled at. Sure, it might take time for you to come to terms with this, but you will, I promise. And finding out who killed those people and stopping them will be an act of redemption for you.”

Could it be as simple as that? “I’ve done good things over the years, but….”

Shay squeezed Diego’s hand, forcing him to look up. “You have. Ranna and the guys were telling me about some of the things you’ve done. The people you’ve saved, even if they never knew it. Borne says you guys went toe to toe with a literal prince of Hell. Kicked his ass pretty badly, from what I heard.”

If only it had been that simple. Zzaran gathered up virgins to sacrifice them to acquire greater power. The sad thing was, in the current world, that led him to take preteens or younger. He’d put them in a summoning circle and had been in the process of speaking the chant when the hunters burst into the room. Diego ordered the team to get the kids out, while he went after Zzaran.

He told them to get out because he hadn’t expected to survive.

It had been a pitched battle. Diego was fast, using his powers to fade in and out of shadows while striking from behind. The demon lord, however, was insanely powerful, and Diego had to keep moving to stay out of his reach, because if he got a grip on him, this fight—this world—would be over. Every few minutes, Zzaran would summon a horde of smaller demons, which Diego had to kill before he could get back to the demon lord. The biggest problem was the fact that while Diego was battling the minions, their master continued to cast his incantation. If he didn’t do something, if he didn’t find a way, Zzaran would get the children again, drag them back into the circle, and complete the ritual. The kids would die, which meant his team would follow, and after that, demons would rule the world.

It was a nearly impossible choice.

Someone would die, and Diego didn’t want to choose between his team and humans, because that wouldn’t end well for anyone.

He was able to hold Zzaran off until the team finally had the kids out of the building, and then they rushed to help Diego. Ranna, her snow-white fur blackened and charred from the hellfire that the demon imps cast, surged forward, jamming her claw into Zzaran’s chest, opening a gaping hole. The demon lord laughed as the wound began closing. Diego knew they’d never be able to beat Zzaran by going toe to toe, so he tried something he’d never done before.

He flashed between shadow and light, until he was close enough to strike. He turned his hand into mist and thrust it into the hole Ranna had put in Zzaran’s chest. The demon lord’s eyes widened as Diego solidified his hand around the pulsing heart and ripped it from the hulking body. For several long moments, it continued to beat, and Diego feared that wouldn’t stop Zzaran. Then Borne jumped from the stairs above them and landed on Zzaran, his hands locked around the monster’s head. His screams reverberated through the room, filled with pain and rage over a life denied him, as he twisted and yanked, separating Zzaran’s head from his body.

Only then did Zzaran collapse into a bloodied heap.

“Fuck,” Diego ground out. “I had no idea your kind was so powerful, Borne.”

“We’re not,” he admitted. “Zzaran is only a level below Asmodeus in terms of power. Do you have any idea what we’ve done? We just took out a prince of Hell.”

“Whatever. As long as he’s dead.”

Borne frowned. “He’s not. I mean, not really. His corporeal body was killed, but that only forced Zzaran’s essence back to Hell. It’ll take a while, probably like a thousand years, for him to regrow a new one. During that time, he’ll be on the run from anything that wants to take his place, but he’s most definitely not dead. He’s going to want revenge when he’s back to full power.” Then he chuckled. “But at least you’ll be here when he reappears, Diego.”

And that reminder of his accursed eternal life took the shine off any victory.

As soon as they got back to the house, Jeremy had descended on Diego, his little hands everywhere, checking for the injuries. Fortunately, vampires healed quickly, because if he’d seen what Zzaran had done to Diego, he would have gone into meltdown.

“When I was younger, I stole a candy bar from a gas station,” Shay announced.

Diego jerked his head up. He’d forgotten he was walking with Shay. Even still, the change in topics was enough to give him whiplash. “What?”

He shrugged. “I saw it on the display. Six thick ounces of milk chocolate with raisins and almonds. I asked my mom to buy it for me and got a resounding, ‘Hell, no’ as my answer. Only, I craved it and couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I grabbed it and jammed it into my jacket. I was, like, five at the time. When we got home, I tried to take it to my room, but Mom saw it sticking out of my pocket. After a round of yelling, I admitted what I’d done. Mom left the groceries on the table and dragged me back to the place where she made me apologize to the owner. I was humiliated.”

Had Diego missed some part of the story? He didn’t want to say anything that would make Shay upset. “I’m sorry.”

Shay snorted. “Don’t be. I did something wrong, and Mom made sure I paid for my transgression.” He stopped in the hall, then turned to Diego. “My point is, you’ve been paying for your sins for hundreds of years. You can’t be punished forever. It’s not as if you had control, right? In any court of law, that would be temporary insanity. When you got back to your right mind, you took what you thought as a curse and made it into something good and decent. Everyone here admires you for your strength and courage. Dig deep and find a shred of that for yourself.” He squeezed Diego’s hand. “It’s time to let it go, Diego. If, for no other reason, than you need to help us take care of the vampires who did this.”

Was Shay right? Had Diego been punishing himself long enough? He never forgot what he did, and he used that horror to drive himself to do the right thing. Maybe he was honoring the memories of those he’d killed by saving people now.

“I… maybe you’re right.”

Shay smirked. “I always am.” He tugged on Diego’s hand again. “Let’s go honor the dead by protecting the living.”

And Shay’s words, the same thoughts as Diego, propelled him along as he steeled his heart and mind for whatever was about to happen.