Crimson Vengeance Read Free Page A

Ivy Hernandez. It hurt that innocents, like Ivy, got drawn into her shadowy world. It just couldn’t be helped. If there was another way, she’d be the first to grab it.
    The darkness clouding this world for thousands of years was growing thin and weak, and not by accident. It was past time for change. Together, Riah and friends like Ivy worked to destroy the darkness until, one day, it would be Riah’s turn to find the light.
    They would banish the darkness forever.
    It would be easy to take the coward’s way out. To simply lie down and allow a hunter to pierce her tired heart. Her life was lonely and, many times, like now, she wondered why she kept going.
    Nothing had been the same since the death of her beloved. Not her life, not her heart, not her very existence. The ache in her heart never seemed to go away and she grew tired of the pain. She longed for the peace a simple wooden stake could bring her.
    People had a tendency to throw around terms like
soul mate
as easily as they tossed back cans of soda. They didn’t really know what it meant. Only those whose lives became eternal could truly understand. Only those of that dark good-night fully grasped the complete meaning. True love, the kind that consumes the very soul, comes once, and when it’s gone, that’s it.
    For Riah, it had been gone a very long time.
    She shook her head and walked to her desk.
Enough with
the soul searching and self-pity.
It was a waste of time because it changed nothing. She was alone and would be for eternity. This was her destiny. She’d earned it and she’d live it. The best she could do was try to make amends.
    When Ivy’s van pulled into the driveway, Riah hit the button to automatically open the doors to the loading dock. The sun was almost down and time was at a premium. They needed to move fast or their problems would multiply quickly.
    Riah was an old vampire and, contrary to the legends, didn’t go up in a puff of smoke when daylight touched her skin. While it was true she preferred the shadows night afforded, she could move in the light if need be. It was uncomfortable but far from deadly. Riah didn’t race against the clock, but what awaited them in the back of Ivy’s van did.
    Jumping out of the open driver’s side door, Ivy came around to the back of the van. She was a bit taller than Riah, maybe five feet five or so, with thick black hair that curled around a beautiful face. Ivy reminded Riah more of a favorite Spanish teacher than an investigator who dealt with death daily. She’d trained under Riah before taking the head job in her hometown of Moses Lake. Without a doubt, Ivy had been one of her best and brightest students. She was a natural and Riah always felt Ivy could go anywhere. Over the years they became much more than friends.
    “Hola, chica,”
Ivy said as she threw open the rear doors of the van. “We best get on this guy pronto. He started twitching just about the time I hit the Maple Street Bridge. We’re wasting moonlight, sister.”
    “Everything’s ready and Adriana’s on her way.” Riah eyed the black bag. It was still and smooth. Contrary to Ivy’s proclamation, nothing twitched now.
    “Bueno.”
Ivy snapped the doors of the van shut and pushed the gurney to the double doors Riah held open. The wheels squeaked softly as it rolled down the brightly lit hallway.
    The slight rustle of movement inside the black bag made Riah glance back at the gurney. “Damn,” she muttered as she hurried ahead of Ivy down toward the autopsy suite.
    “I told you,” Ivy said. “He’s a feisty one. Never would have guessed it from the boring business suit he was wearing when we pulled him out of the lake.”
    Inside the morgue, Riah moved fast. The window in which to do her work was small, and seconds were ticking away in what seemed like double-time.

Chapter two
    Ivy stood next to Riah and they both stared at the body on the stainless-steel autopsy table. She should concentrate solely on the victim,