Once Broken (Dove Creek Chronicles) Read Free Page A

the vampire’s path. It was the only house for acres and acres, and miles from town. The people inside didn’t stand a chance.
    T hey were the bait.
    And if they were the bait, then that meant I was the target.
    I didn’t stop to think twice. If there were people in that house, they were as good as dead if I didn’t do something. Target or not.
    I shifted into reverse and backed to the place where the bloodsucker had disappeared. Pulling onto the side of the road, I put my jeep in park and switched off the headlights.
    Shootouts would draw a crowd and in a place like this, everybody wants to be the first one in the know. If gunfire ever rings out when it‘s not hunting season, it attracts all kinds of attention – ladies in fuzzy bathrobes with curlers in their hair, children who sneak past their parents with wide eyed curiosity, or at the very least, a curious game warden.
    Simply put, we can’t just go around blasting away with s hotguns every time we see fit. I carry a compound bow for its silent killing power. It was in the back end, so I snagged it as I ran around the vehicle and into the ditch.
    Staying low and moving as soundlessly as I could, I ran until I reached the point where the vampire had crossed the fence. It wasn’t for his benefit that I stayed quiet. I knew he could hear everything right down to my heartbeat, but the family inside that house would remain oblivious to what was happening as long as they didn’t hear me come tearing across their property.
    With a running start, I vaulted the barbed wire fence into a grazing pasture that bordered the house’s neat little yard. I could smell the distinctive scent of a chicken coop upwind as my quick steps crunched in the dry bluestem grass. Cattle lowed in the field around me and mesquite shoots scratched at my tall boots and denim clad legs, but none of this slowed me down as I sprinted through the field.
    It would’ve been impossible for me to catch a vampire on foot. Impossible. Unless he let me catch him.
    His skin was pale in the faint moonlight and stood out against the deep dark of our surroundings. Nocking an arrow as I skidded to a halt, I aimed the silver broadhead at his heart.
    The vampire paused, and I saw that he wasn’t one that I recognized. I wasn’t too surprised by that. It seemed that for every one we killed, two more showed up.
    In that passing moment, I discerned that he wasn’t one of the attractive ones. His features were markedly reptilian. He had a sharp, narrow jaw and thin lips that curled slightly upward. His nose was wide and somewhat flat, with a hump at the top that suggested it had been broken a time or two when he had been a living person. All of this was topped by a pair of beady, wide set eyes that, instead of moving normally, darted to and fro.
    Those eyes darted over me before he let out a barbaric scream. I didn’t know why – clearly, the creature didn’t fear me. It didn’t matter. I reacted, triggering the bow‘s release. The arrow shot with a whistle and hit . . . Thin air.
    The vampire had melted into the darkness, and left me standing rooted to where I was. Wary of a surprise attack, I fitted another arrow nock onto the string.
    But the attack never came.
    Busy contemplating what had just happened and why, I didn’t hear the footsteps until it was too late. The distinctive click of a shotgun shell sliding into firing position announced the arrival of the very person I had been trying to steer clear of.
    “Don’tchya dare move, girly.” The gruff voice of the farmer came from behind me. “I done called the sheriff. Saw ye parkin’ in m’ bar ditch . . . Sick ‘n’ damn tired of you kids makin’ mischief ‘round here.”
    “Sir, I— ” I began to explain that I was no kid and attempt an explanation, but I was interrupted before I could get more than those two words out.
    “Don’t ‘sir’ me. Save it for the deputy. Now get t’ movin’.”
    Obediently, I dropped my bow to my side and