A Demon in Dallas: Hunters' Chronicles, #1

A DEMON IN DALLAS

AMY ARMSTRONG

Chapter One

I can’t see a freaking thing down here, it’s too dark, Matt whined.

Hands clenched into fists, I glared at him, my jaw tense. If you don’t stop whining, I’ll leave you down here to find your own way out.

Matt shut up.

The trip to Texas had been his idea, yet only two days after arriving, he had me combing the sewers, knee deep in God only knew what. As we headed farther into the labyrinth of tunnels, my already sour mood worsened.

Why had I agreed to this?

I should have known better.

After a few more minutes of walking on in the worst kind of uncomfortable silence, Matt mumbled, I was sure he came this way.

He might have missed the glare I tossed in his direction, but I’d be surprised if he couldn’t feel my gaze burning a hole in the back of his head. I’d never have admitted it to Matt, but I was angrier at myself than I was with him. Yet again, I had let him talk me into one of his idiotic plans.

Apparently, my stupidity knew no boundaries.

It wasn’t as if we hadn’t had enough work to keep us busy in Maine, and you didn’t melt in Maine when you stepped out into the midday sun. That was always a bonus. But no, I’d been seduced by the idea of a nest of vampires that were getting too big for their cowboy boots.

It was always the damn vampires that did it.

I felt drawn to them like a wolf to the moon—which made sense in its own perverse way. I was a hunter, after all. The need to exterminate the vermin was in my blood, embedded in my DNA.

Matt stayed close to my side as we traversed the intricate network of underground tunnels. He’d never had the sense of direction that I seemed to have been born with, so we had to stick together. If we split up, Matt would undoubtedly have gotten lost and the last thing I wanted was to have to spend more time in the damp stinky sewer than I needed to.

Placing a hand around my upper arm, Matt pulled me to a stop. He was about my height, though marginally broader, so when I turned, we were standing face to face and close enough that I could see his remorseful expression.

He heaved a sigh.

I’m sorry I dragged you into this. You were right. We should have stayed in Maine.

His repentant tone dispelled most of the anger I’d been holding onto.

There was a reason I hadn’t wanted to come back to Austin, but he didn’t know about it. As far as he was aware, I’d walked out on that part of my life two years ago and I hadn’t looked back. Seemingly, I was adept at hiding my feelings, even from Matt, who had become like a brother to me over the ten years we’d been hunting together.

Or maybe I was just a damn good liar.

If I had confided in Matt, I had no doubt he would have dropped the subject and we wouldn’t have come back here, but some things were just too painful to talk about and this was one of them.

I shrugged. Look, don’t worry about it. I’m a big girl. I agreed to come with you. Now that we’re here, let’s kill some vamps, yeah?

A goofy grin was his only reply.

When we turned a corner, the dimly lit, narrow passageway opened up into a cavernous room. The stark brick walls held small fitted lights, but they let off hardly any illumination. The smell was worse there and it only took a moment to realize why. Our prey was standing in the back, casually leaning against the wall when we entered. His eyes glowed yellow in the small beam of moonlight that filtered down from an overhead grating. Even from ten feet away I could smell the stench of death and decay on his breath and I had to fight my gag reflex. The room was just bright enough to see the vampire’s wide, toothy grin.

It’s about time y’all showed up, he said with a lazy Texan twang. I ain’t got all night, ya know.

I took a few steps farther into the room to get a better look at the creature. He was wearing pale blue, flared denims and a floral shirt. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in the seventies—in fact, he probably hadn’t taken them off since the seventies. That would certainly explain some of the stink. But the strangest thing about him was his relaxed stance and calm demeanor.

Most vampires feared hunters on sight.

Reaching into my jacket, I pulled out my favorite silver-tipped stake.

I’d put that away if I were you.

He swaggered towards us and the stench increased, clogging up the already stale air until it was all I could smell. At least when we fought vampires in the usual places like graveyards there was fresh air to be had. Here, there was none.

Some days, I really hated my damn job.

I shrugged. Sorry, no can do.

Someone could get hurt, he mused.

Not someone, I corrected. "Something."

It was damn near impossible to think of a vampire as a human being when their humanity had departed along with their soul. ‘Mindless, emotionless killers’ was the only term that fitted.

Details, he drawled, with a swish of his hand.

His grin broadened.

As we stared at each other silently, my mind went into overdrive. There was something off about the whole situation—something that just didn’t sit right with me. His relaxed manner made me jittery. Vampires were undoubtedly the most conceited of the supernatural species, but he would have known we were hunters. He was either stupid enough to think he could take us, or he had a death wish. Of course, there could always be a third alternative—he wasn’t in the sewer alone and that fact was giving him false confidence.

Matt, pick up the slack, I instructed.

My eyes never wavered from the soulless creature in front of me. In the ten years we’d worked together, Matt and I had come to understand one another pretty well so I didn’t need to elaborate. In my peripheral vision, I saw him nod then walk back down the tunnel we’d just come through.

Well, well. Not as stupid as you look.

As the creature neared, his haughty smirk exposed yellow, razor-sharp fangs.

I was about to respond with something equally banal when a fight broke out in the tunnel behind me. The disturbing sounds of fists hitting flesh and snapping bones reached my ears along with Matt’s shouts of rage as he fought what sounded like four or five vampires at once.

Raven! Raven, help me! Matt shouted. Help!

Damn it.

I thought about dispatching the creature in front of me first, but quickly dismissed the idea. Just as I spun around to run to Matt’s aid, a sound rang out that made my stomach lurch violently and all the air whooshed out of my lungs.

Matt screamed—quite literally screamed.

The chilling sound echoed off the damp sewer walls, reverberating through my body as if it were a physical entity that had taken me by the arms and shaken me violently.

It was excruciating to listen to—pure torture.

Just as I started to charge to Matt’s rescue, the vampire lunged, catching me off guard. I dived out of the way, narrowly missing his razor-like teeth, but his clawed hand slashed across my chest, slicing deep. It hurt, a lot, but I took a deep breath and pushed the pain out of my mind.

I needed to focus on the fight or I’d be in no condition to help anyone.

The sickly sweet, metallic odor of blood reached my nostrils and from the hungry look in the vamp’s eyes, he’d scented it too.

There’s no escape, he said in a pedestrian tone that annoyed the crap out of me.

The vampire was too sure of himself, too arrogant by far—totally misguided.

The second time he came at me, I was ready for him. His sharp teeth and rancid breath were inches away from my face when I plunged the stake into his chest, hitting the dead center of his heart. His eyebrows drew together as he looked down and let out an ear-piercing wail before crumpling to the ground at my feet, dead.

Unlike his first death, there would be no coming back from this one.

I pulled out my stake right before the vampire’s body began to degrade—aging before my eyes, wrinkling and drying out like a grape on a vine left to wither under the sun’s harsh rays. In a few minutes’ time there would be nothing left to mark his time on earth but a pile of dense ashes.

Without sparing another thought for the soulless creature, I raced back down the tunnel to get to Matt, but I was too late. The vampire’s friends had already left and Matt was missing too.

What the hell?

I leaned back against the damp wall and tried to catch my breath.

I had to find him before it was too late.

Chapter Two

Racing through the tunnels, I took the path back to the entrance we’d used earlier, but there was no sign of Matt or any of the other vampires.

They had to have taken Matt with them.

But why?

It didn’t make any sense.

The vampires had no reason to kidnap Matt. They usually drank a person dry before killing them, but they couldn’t have done that either. They hadn’t had enough time to drain Matt completely, and if they’d have killed him, they would have left his body behind.

There would have been no sense in taking it with them.

Matt was no use to anyone dead, although I couldn’t figure out what use he could be to a horde of vampires while he was alive, either. I hoped above all else that they hadn’t decided to turn him. To hunters like Matt and I, that was a fate far worse than death.

When I died, if there was a heaven, I wanted in. There were way too many people on the other side that would just love to get their grubby paws on me for putting them in their eternal resting place, and wouldn’t that just suck?

The cut on my chest was deep and began to burn intensely, making me feel like a head of cattle branded by a hot iron. Until it had healed fully, and I was back to fighting form, I was in no condition to help Matt. I couldn’t even help