Vampire Seeker Read Free Page A

There was a breeze, but it did nothing
     to cool the extreme heat. Slowly, I lowered my hands and squinted up at the bright white sun that shone down from above. I
     was looking up into the palest of blue skies. Wisps of cloud covered it like white scars. My throat felt dry, as if I had
     swallowed broken glass. Something warm and sticky trickled down the side of my face and I gently dabbed at it with my fingertips.
     I pulled them away and they were smeared red.
    “Get up!” someone snapped, and grabbed my arm. Their grip was so tight that a bolt of pain exploded up my arm
     and it made me feel sick.
    I was pulled to my feet, and opening my eyes, I looked down to see the corpses of four men lying at my feet. Their faces were
     upturned, and each of them had an angry-looking hole in their foreheads.
    “You’ll pay for what you did,” the voice hissed again, and I turned in the direction of it.
    A weather-beaten face of a man stared into mine. His skin looked leathery and orange as if he had fallen asleep for several
     days on a sunbed. Black whiskers protruded from his chin like needles, and a set of wiry black eyebrows dropped over his piercing
     eyes.
    “Look what you did to my men!” he barked, and I could see that his top two front teeth were nothing more than
     rotten stumps.
    I glanced down at the four dead men again and whispered, “Did I do that?” It wasn’t only the sight of the
     dead men I found confusing, but the way in which they were all dressed. They looked like cowboys. Each of them wore faded
     brown trousers which looked as if they had been cut from a rough cloth. They wore filthy-looking shirts which were tied up
     at the front with some kind of string. On their feet they wore leather boots, and around their hips and thighs were fastened
     holsters.
    “What’s going on?” I asked wearily, feeling as if I had just woken from the worst hangover ever.
    “You killed my men,” the man said again. Looking back at him, I could see that he was dressed just like the others.
     Then, without warning, he rolled back his fist and smashed it into the bony part of my skull just between my eyes. My head
     rocked back, and I lost my footing. I hit the ground, sending up a plume of sand and dust. My brain felt as if it had been
     hacked away at with an ice pick. Then, as if my instincts were taking over, I reached for my…
    “Looking for these?” the man asked, with a bemused chuckle.
    Opening my eyes, I peered up at him, and could see that he was holding two gleaming guns in his hands. They looked as if they
     were made of silver, with smooth, wooden handles. Were they really mine? I wondered. I’d never owned a gun before. But
     something inside of me wanted to reach out for them, snatch them from him, and hold them in my hands. I could sense how they
     would feel in my fists, just the right weight, their smooth, sandalwood handles fitting the inside of my hands like gloves.
     I stared up at him, and all at once I could see how I could get them, even though I was on my back and he towered over me.
    The man in the odd-looking cowboy outfit pointed the guns down at me, and the sun winked on and off them, reflecting against
     the silver barrel. “I’ve a good mind to kill you right now for what you’ve done, you filthy whore, but first
     I’m gonna have me some fun.”
    He holstered one of the guns, and with his free hand, he started to loosen the knotted length of string that held his trousers
     in place. He wobbled awkwardly as he tried to free himself from the front of his trousers and I knew that I was in the crap.
     The gun wavered from side to side with excitement. I looked up at him, the whole time my aching brain telling me how I could
     still get out if this. It was like my mind belonged to someone else – to someone who knew how to fight, someone who
     could handle themselves.
    With his free hand disappearing into the front of his trousers, he looked down at me, and with his tongue running