Forever Night Sins Read Free Page A

vampire. She drove down the street, one hand on the wheel and the other on the joystick. If she caught the vampire in her blue beam the bloodsucker would be toast, literally.
    She caught a flicker of movement, a dark shadow darting across her path. She twisted the joystick but missed her prey. Instead of disappearing into the bowels of a building or onto a rooftop, the vampire played cat and mouse with the blue beam. Unable to tag the vampire, Harper chased the bloodsucker through the deserted city caverns.
    After the vampires were forced into the Cemetery, the humans abandoned the surrounding buildings, leaving apartments and businesses deserted. The dead zone between the living and the undead was Harper’s beat.
    A shadow moved and Harper turned the joystick. The vampire ducked into a dead-end alley.
    Harper hit the gas and turned into the alley, then slammed on the brakes. The patrol vehicle’s headlamps illuminated the narrow canyon. At the far end of the alley, a door stood open. The vampire had escaped, and only a fool chased a vampire inside an abandoned building alone.
    Harper swore and put the vehicle in reverse. She started to back up but stopped. Something pink was visible at the edge of the doorway. A scrap of cloth? A ribbon? Another victim?
    Vampires rarely wore color, preferring to blend into the night.
    Flicking a switch, Harper lit up the alley with all the roof-mounted ultraviolet lamps before climbing out of her vehicle. Light wand in hand, she approached the open door. Harper picked up the pink ribbon and pulled. The ribbon stretched, taut with resistance. Fearing the ribbon was attached to someone, Harper unclipped her sidearm and ignited her wand.
    Going inside was dangerous, but Harper had to find out if another female victim was inside. A shiver slid down her spine. She should call for backup and wait for another agent.
    Harper exhaled. The encounter with the old vampire had spooked her.
    Squaring her shoulders, Harper stepped into the dark windowless space. She swung her wand back and forth in a protective arc. If she saw a body, she’d race to her vehicle and call dispatch for assistance. Heart pounding, Harper followed the ribbon’s trail.
    A rush of cold air came toward her, but before she turned to address the threat her hands were grabbed from behind and crushed by cold, powerful fingers.
    Fear exploding in her brain, she struggled, kicked and tried to angle her UV wand. The pressure on her hands increased, the pain forcing a cry. She was spun around and her hands were slammed together. Cold fingers wrapped around her wrists and yanked them above her head. Then she was lifted up, the toes of her boots barely scraping the floor. The reinforced wristbands of her uniform protected her from bites, but not from a bone-crushing grip. Despite the pain, she held onto her UV wand.
    “Remember me, Agent Croix?”
    She recognized his silky voice. The old one had caught her. “I meet a lot of bloodsuckers,” she said, dismissing him.
    He hissed, his face so close to hers Harper shivered. “Not like me.”
    The reinforced collar of her uniform protected her neck from his fangs. If the vampire eased his hold, she might have a chance. One hit with the UV beam would do it. The door was only fifteen feet away. All she had to do was reach the light surrounding her vehicle and she was home free.
    “Release me before the entire DSA squad lights up the area.”
    “Not going to happen,” he said, yanking her light wand from her hand. He turned off the beam and tossed the wand aside. “Your coworkers are busy chasing shadows. Cost me dearly, but having you all to myself is worth the coin.”
    When the world economies tanked, the old vampires hoarding metals benefited, but all the gold and silver didn’t help them when the human masses turned against them.
    Harper’s brain worked furiously. She wore a fully loaded weapons belt and had slender wooden stakes hidden in the side pockets of her pants with no way