Blood of the Gods (The Vampire from Hell Part 5) Read Free Page A

other guys in the middle of the circle.  One held a brown stripped dog by a red leash and silver choker collar.  When the other guy instructed him, he would let go of the leash so the dog could terrorize a medium size, fluffy orange cat they had obviously put in a wire cage.  It made me sick to my stomach.
    Finally, when I hit my boot against the metal of the container, I had everyone’s attention.
    “What do we have going on here, guys?” I asked the group politely.
    The leader, who seemed to be the thinnest one in the lot of them, whirled around at me.  He was certainly displeased with the interruption.
    “Who the hell are you?”
    I arched an eyebrow at him.  “Wow,” I replied, crossing my legs.  “You’re one sassy punk, aren’t you?”
    Several of the other guys laughed.  The one called T reined the dog in and bent down to check his wounds.  “That cat tore a chunk out of Zeus’s cheek, Nathan.  Let’s call this off, man.  I need him tomorrow in the fights.”
    The voice inside my head rallied.  “Nathan?  As in Grace’s Nathan, Rayea?”
    I faltered for a second when I heard the voice call my name.  “You just said my name?”
    “I did,” the voice replied.
    “What’s wrong with ya, you dumb ass?  Cat got your tongue?”
    The guys laughed at their leader’s words.  Nathan, alive and in person.  And within my grasp.  I could take care of him for Grace, if I wanted to.  Instead, I went for the Jeremy plan of action.
    I leapt off the dumpster, landing just outside their circle, inches from Nathan.  “You don’t wanna mess with me, friend,” I said.  Baring my fangs, I hissed at him.
    His cloudy blood-shot eyes almost popped out of his skull, and the color drained from his gaunt face.
    Nathan and everyone else fled, running for the exit to the street and leaving the dog and cat abandoned.  Taking a second look at me, the dog nodded.
    “Well played, vampire.”
    Telepathically, I heard the dog speak to me and then watched as he too ran down the alley.
    “Zeus, the dog,” the voice inside my head commented.  “Fancy that.”
    As I retracted my fangs, I knelt down near the cat.  Every stitch of his fur was puffed up.  He was trying to make himself look like a huge threat, hissing and growling at me.
    “You want me to call the dog back, little one?” I asked him.
    He bared his fangs at me as a response and crouched down in the middle of the cage.  A row of his fur stuck up high along the ridge of his backbone.
    “Come on, you can go home with me.  I’ll stop at the Lucky Mart at the end of my street and get you some tuna.  What do you say?”
    Signed,
    Rayea
     

Chapter 3
    Grace’s Diary
     
    ***
    “ I should tell you that I'm a daughter of Satan, and I’m a vampire.  But I’m not your average, run-of-the-mill vampire.  It’s kind of complicated.  Please don’t let any of that alarm you.  I’m on your side. ” ~ Rayea, the Vampire from Hell
    ***
     
    September 2.  Midmorning.
    Blick’s deep voice interrupted my train of thought as he returned to the front room and I hid the book I had been reading under my backpack.  It was time I got my day started.  “There’s been no word.  Just checked the networks.  Nothing.  No word from her at all.  If she was alive, no one could keep her from a computer.  Don’t you think, Grace?  She would share her thoughts.  She would find a way.  She would …if she were alive.  How long do we keep believing she is a…”
    “Until Hell freezes over,” I spat out.  I tossed my coffee cup in the sink, ignoring the sound of breaking ceramic.  I gathered up my computer and notes and shoved them violently into my backpack.
    I felt Blick’s presence behind me.  He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.  Blick was several inches taller than me so really his muscular chest hit me right along my shoulders.  I patted him on the hand.  “We’re not giving up.  Okay?”  I