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  THE TROUBLE WITH VAMPIRES

  ASSASSINS OF MAYHEM ACADEMY 2

  TRINA M. LEE

  THE TROUBLE WITH VAMPIRES

  Copyright 2020 by Trina M. Lee

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

  Published in Canada

  Editor

  B. Leigh Hogan

  Proofreader

  Denise Fortowsky

  Cover Artist

  Marvin Lee Cover Design

  Published by

  Trina M. Lee

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Epilogue

  CHAPTER ONE

  Tires squealed. We sped through yet another red light to the shrill blare of horns. With no choice but to trust Rayne’s driving skills, I held tight to the passenger door handle, watching over my shoulder as the black truck drew closer.

  Without hesitation, its driver barreled through the red light after us, causing further commotion accompanied by the shriek of colliding metal. Somehow the federal agent driving the truck avoided the accident they’d caused.

  “Getting closer,” I warned, keeping an eye on our tail so Rayne could watch the road ahead.

  In response to my update he adjusted our speed, accelerating enough to stay several car lengths ahead of our pursuer but not so much that he lost control. Our goal wasn’t to ditch the FPA vehicle but to lead them away from their original target. So far so good.

  Using a red decoy car that had been supplied for just this purpose, Rayne, Corr, and I had intercepted the Feds on their way to investigate a frantic 911 call: a man acting strangely had lashed out at a gas station clerk, baring fangs. Both the Federal Para-Intelligence Agency and The Circle of the Veil monitored emergency calls for just this reason.

  The Circle didn’t take kindly to human authorities treading on supernatural territory, meddling in the business of monsters and magic. They also held a dim view of vampires killing in public, which was how I found myself here now, helping to lead the humans away from the werewolf at the gas station while our people went in to grab him before he could do something even more stupid.

  There was no guarantee The Circle wouldn’t kill him themselves after showing fangs to a human in public, on a security camera to boot. But keeping him out of FPA custody was a priority. Not only did the human agency kill our kind, they also experimented on us. When they got really lucky, they were even able to recruit a few.

  “You’re not going to make it through that intersection,” Corr said, voice awfully calm for someone in the backseat of a car speeding toward a busy intersection. “There’s too much traffic.”

  “Fuck, I know.” Rayne slammed a hand on the steering wheel and, instead of continuing toward the intersection, hit the brakes and cut a hard, fast left into a residential area.

  Tires protesting, the small sedan struggled to right itself. Rayne slowed until he regained control and then hit the gas again, speeding down the quiet street of slumbering families. I watched the side mirror for any sign of the FPA truck. Had they caught our sudden disappearance?

  Yes, yes they had. The truck rounded the corner, skidding off the main road at a dangerous speed.

  My fingers tightened almost painfully on the door handle. “They’re still on us.”

  “Good.” With a jerk of his head toward the portable GPS on the dash, Rayne continued down another side street at random. “Can you figure out which street will lead us back to our original route?”

  Taking a detour hadn’t been in the plans. We intended to lead the pursuing vehicle on a goose chase before luring them to where another team would be waiting to back us up. Of course these missions rarely went according to plan. We’d had to roll with the punches before; why should this be any different?

  I tapped the GPS screen, zooming out so I could see the surrounding area on the map. “Take a right at the next stop sign. Then your second left. It will take us out another exit from this neighborhood.”

  “Maybe we should confront them,” Corr suggested, gripping the side of my seat. “If we stop here in a neighborhood filled with innocent civilians, they’ll have to retreat. They can’t very well open fire on us right here.”

  “That’s actually not a bad idea.” I glanced at Rayne for his opinion.

  Fingers tight on the wheel, his eyes were solid wolf, a deep but vibrant gold. Seeing them like that always made my insides spark with excitement.

  “I can’t be the first one to stop. If The Circle finds out, they’ll have my hide. Literally, I’m sure. Unless they force us to stop, we have to keep moving toward our destination.” After taking the next corner with a shriek of burning rubber, Rayne grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it before returning both hands to the wheel.

  In the month or so since I’d been forced onto this Mayhem Task Force the two of us had grown close. Too close, some might say. Because close was dangerous. But so was alone. So we deemed our blossoming relationship to be worth the risk.

  Rayne wasn’t the only one I’d forged a connection with. Some of the people on my team had become friends. A few of them had started to become something more than that. One of those people was my superior, an incubus demon who made my panties drop with just a glance. That attraction promised misfortune, since I hated pretty much everything about him and how he came into my life. The Circle sent Nova to apprehend me for a crime I deemed total bullshit. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Killing men who preyed on women would never be wrong. Although I could have chosen a better location.

  Nova and I had engaged in one encounter that went farther than it should have. Since then we’d done all we could to avoid close proximity. His incubus touch meant that, every time we got physical, my attraction to him would grow.

  Like a craving. An addiction.

  Nova had assured me that his craving for me grew as well. I still hadn’t decided if I liked that or not. Perhaps the most dangerous part of our fiery desire was how much shit it could get us both in with higher ups should The Circle find out.

  With the FPA truck racing along behind us, we sped toward the street that would take us back to the main thoroughfare. The agents had gained some ground but seemed to be keeping their distance. Maybe they worried about drawing citizen attention in the middle of the night?

  Right away I had my answer. Up ahead a dark gray SUV shot out in front of us. Parked sideways, it blocked our exit. We had Feds on both sides.

  “Son of a bitch.” Rayne slammed a palm on the wheel as he hit the brakes, bringing us into a skid. “You guys know the drill. Don’t let them take you. Blaz
e, be ready to drive us out of here.”

  All I could do was nod as I grabbed my dagger from the floor. The guys had been wolves long enough to know how to shift their skin in a few seconds without flashing innocent bystanders. By the time the Feds had spilled out of their vehicles, I had two large wolves on either side of me, one raven black and the other ashy blond.

  Corr faced the truck that screeched to a stop behind us. Rayne faced the newcomers ahead. I stood between the two of them, glancing between each vehicle, trying to assess which team posed the greater threat.

  The two men in the tailing truck reached us first. When they opened fire I raised the dagger that Nova had given me, and the blade glowed a soft yellow-gold. The glow spread out to cover us in a protective shield.

  As the bullets bounced off the shield to fall harmlessly to the ground, I realized they weren’t bullets at all. They were tranquilizer darts. Somehow, that concerned me more than a kill shot. They wanted to take us in.

  I glanced back at the second FPA team to find them striding toward us. Three of them. Two women and a man. All human, as the majority of FPA agents tended to be.

  “Careful, guys,” I said, voice low. “I’m not sure how many of those tranqs it takes to bring any of us down, and I’d rather not find out.”

  Rayne bumped his furry black head against my leg before turning to bare fangs at the duo as they reloaded. He knew how many it took. He’d been shot with one before. If one dart took down a shifter, a few would do me in too.

  Corr didn’t wait for the men to take aim again. The ash-blond wolf lunged from my right, tackling an agent to the ground. The guy’s gun jerked and went off, the dart nailing his partner in the neck.

  Leaving Corr to handle the two of them, Rayne and I prepared to meet the incoming team. Two of them leveled weapons on us. The third, a gray-haired man in the middle, brought his people to a stop well out of reach.

  “Call your wolf off,” he raised his voice just enough to be heard. So they were concerned about the nearby civilians. “This doesn’t have to end bloody.”

  “Then why do you have guns?” Acting as the voice for the three of us, I held the dagger ready for any shots they might take. Thanks to demon magic, the blade would help protect us. But I knew better than to rely too heavily on any one thing to save me. In the end, I had to save myself.

  Corr stood on the chest of the man he’d downed, snarling into his face. The other agent had succumbed to the tranq dart, passed out hard.

  “Because we don’t have fangs and magic.” He shrugged like that should be self-explanatory. “We don’t want a scene here any more than you do. Let’s just call it a day, shall we?”

  “Just like that?” I scoffed. “You expect us to believe that you’re going to let us leave peacefully? Then why the hell did your men chase us through the city?”

  “Because they thought you were someone else. Just the way you planned it. Am I right?” Hooking a thumb in the waist of his wide pants, the Fed rocked on his heels, waiting for me to make a move.

  Opting not to respond to his question, I parried one of my own back at him. “Well, now that you know we’re not who you thought we were, why not just leave?”

  The man’s face split into an ugly grin. “You first. Unless of course you’d prefer that we take you instead.”

  Rayne’s lips peeled back in a snarl and a sinister growl spilled out.

  I braced myself and the dagger blade glowed brighter in response. “You can try. I wouldn’t recommend it if you want to make it home tonight.”

  I didn’t like to kill, not outside the victims I carefully selected to feed my hunger. But if it was us or them, I wouldn’t stop until we were the last ones standing. This guy could make that choice for all of us.

  Clenching his thick hands into fists, the Fed’s face reddened. Had he expected us to cower and flee? By the way he blubbered and spat, he had. “I’d love to see how much attitude you still have after spending some time in our facility, bitch.” With a nod to the women flanking him, he pulled a gun from a holster on his hip. “Dart their asses.”

  The women held tranq guns, but he held a real one. Shots went off. Using the moves I’d spent hours honing with Nova, I deflected them all. With Corr at our backs and Rayne at my side, I advanced on the three of them, the glowing blade helping me push forward unharmed.

  “It’s not working.” One woman shouted the obvious. “Fall back.”

  “Not until I say fall back,” the man snapped despite the fact that he too walked backward as we advanced.

  “We came for one werewolf and that one isn’t here.” This from the second woman who eyed the narrowing distance to their SUV. “Let’s go. This wasn’t part of the order.”

  “So fucking what? They’re supes. We can still take them in.” Fumbling another clip from his inside pocket, the man never took his eyes off us.

  Both women exchanged a look but neither contested the asshole’s decision. Their mistake. One I couldn’t let stand.

  Making the best of their brief dissent, I rushed them. Moving superhumanly fast, I was on them in a blink. With one hand I swept the dagger in an arc, aiming for the man’s gun hand. The blade sliced clean through his forearm, and his hand dropped to the ground, still gripping the weapon.

  In the few seconds it took the women to react, I threw a telekinetic attack that blasted both against their SUV. If they were smart, they’d flee before they lost any parts.

  They seemed to read my mind. Scrambling into the vehicle, they didn’t hang around to find out what would happen to the asshole now on his knees and screaming while he clutched his bleeding stump.

  I simply couldn’t resist.

  Dropping my weapon, I was on him. My fangs plunged into his neck, cutting of his wail. Blood filled my mouth, quenching the hunger that I’d spent seven decades learning to master. A hunger that could not be tamed, merely satiated. Until the next time.

  I took what I needed before letting him slump to the asphalt in a growing pool of his own blood. Whirling, I found Corr still standing guard over the two agents from the truck. I did a quick survey of nearby houses. Nobody around. No front doors faced us, so no doorbell cams. Hopefully no one had cameras up to catch vandals or teenagers sneaking out.

  Grabbing my dagger, I approached the man pinned under Corr. His partner was still out cold. Because I didn’t want or need to kill anyone else tonight, I decided to give him the chance I knew his people wouldn’t have given me.

  “We’re going to let you up. You’ll grab your friend and leave. Try anything, and you die like your colleague over there.” I extended my dagger so the point was mere inches from his face. “Nod if you understand.”

  The frightened man already lay trapped beneath the burly wolf. Face ashen, he nodded vigorously, willing to take any chance to get out of this alive. Since werewolves could smell a lie, I glanced to Corr for confirmation. The wolf lingered just a second longer before backing off to allow the agent up.

  As agreed, the terrified man grabbed his friend and unceremoniously stuffed him into the truck before peeling away with a squeal of tires. The three of us were quick to follow suit.

  Once back in the car, I threw it into gear and beat it out of that neighborhood. As far as run-ins with the Feds went, it could have been worse. Only one person had died, and that had been his choice.

  Next to me Rayne sat naked and human, dressing in the awkward confines of the passenger seat while Corr did the same in the back. “Head back to where we picked this thing up. As long as we don’t run into anyone else, it should be safe to ditch the car and go back to the house.” Rayne tugged a black t-shirt over his head, hiding chiseled abs from sight.

  Probably for the best. I didn’t need the distraction. I glanced in the rearview mirror to check for a tail, but we pulled back onto the busy road without issue.

  “Dude pissed himself,” Corr said, derision in his usually calm voice. “Haven’t scared someone that bad in a while.”

  I met his
gray-hued blue eyes in the mirror. They were a strange shade that could be seen as either color. When their edges crinkled with his smile, a warmth to spread through my chest, helping me relax.

  It took several minutes for the tension to leave my body. Although I wasn’t opposed to a face-off with the FPA if necessary, it always came with a lot of anxiety. I feared the spilling of my own blood and the wild magic that ran rampant when it happened, taking down anyone in its path whether friend or foe. Thankfully, my magic had not wreaked havoc. This time.

  But it would again, as it had before, and I had to be ready when it did.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Blonde ponytail bouncing, Dalyn spoke animatedly about the excitement her team had endured. She’d accompanied Tavi, Ghost, and Ira to pick up the shifter the Feds had been after.

  “This other car just came out of nowhere. I thought it was going to T-bone us, but it just caught the fender instead.” As she chatted a mile a minute, Dalyn poured a dollop of white wine into a glass with a shaky hand. “There were three agents in that car. I almost shit my pants when one of them stuck a gun in my face, but Ghost came to my rescue.” She flashed a dreamy smile at the vampire before slugging back her whole drink in one swallow.

  Ghost regarded her with a soft smile that was somehow both sinister and inviting. He tugged the tip of her ponytail in a brotherly fashion on his way out of the kitchen. “Nobody fucks with Sabrina the Teenage Witch on my watch.”

  Her smile faltered. “Teenage witch? I’m twenty-five, you dick. Although I’ve been told I can pass for eighteen.” Dalyn shook her empty glass at Ghost’s retreating back before fetching a refill. She almost collided with Tavi who munched a chicken leg from the fridge in the middle of the kitchen.

  “Bullshit you can,” Tavi sneered around a mouthful of roasted meat. “And I can pass for a middle-aged white guy.”

  A few of us had gathered around the island in the kitchen upon returning to Mayhem House. Rayne had gone for a dip in the pool out back while Corr had retreated to his room. I expected Nova to drop in, so I didn’t venture far.