Tall, Dark, and Vampire

disruption they needed was a human to stumble upon their network.

He crouched low and moved silently down the tunnel in front of her. They followed the scent for what felt like forever, but Doug stopped when they came to an intersection with five passages. She scanned the area not only with the enhanced night vision of a vampire, but also with the sonar vision that allowed her to sense far beyond where she could actually see.

Doug closed his eyes and held his gun out as he absorbed the subtle sounds around them. Olivia squatted down on her heels and watched him with genuine awe because he figured it out himself.

She didn’t have to tell him about reading sound waves, and she didn’t want to overwhelm him with information. Doug Paxton was full of surprises, and the most natural vampire she had ever met.

They’re down there. His voice touched hers on a whisper. His eyes flicked open, and he pointed to the corridor to the right. I sense movement, and it feels like something big. Not rats. I think there are two or three.

Once a cop, always a cop. Olivia looked at him with pride, and a smile played at her lips. It makes sense. This tunnel will take us to the Village, and there’s an entrance to the street by Washington Square Park. Stay sharp. Chances are their nest is somewhere around here.

Doug nodded, and as they moved toward the inevitable battle, Olivia prayed he would be as deft at kicking ass as he had been at everything else.

Chapter 12

The need to kill pulled at him and hung around his neck like a fucking albatross. The image of Miranda’s mutilated body flashed through his mind as he and Olivia made their way through the network of tunnels. He used his rage to drive him forward as they followed the stink of the rogues—the monsters that killed two of the only people he cared about.

He didn’t love Miranda, but she was a good woman and didn’t deserve to die. But then again, neither did Tom, Brittany, or Ronald Davis. He vowed that if it was the last thing he did, he would eviscerate the motherfuckers who were responsible.

Lost in his thoughts and focused on the path in front of them, he didn’t hear the sounds at first, but Olivia did. Her delicate hand grabbed his, and they came to a halt, crouching in the tunnel back-to-back with guns drawn, both of them struggling to discern which direction the footsteps were coming from.

“They’re coming from both directions.” He squeezed her hand and took solace in the weight of her body leaning against his.

“Damn it,” she whispered. “They’re herding us like fucking cattle.”

“And it sounds like a lot more than two or three.”

“Go,” she shouted. “There’s an abandoned subway tunnel about twenty feet ahead on the right. Shoot anything that moves.”

Doug kept her hand wrapped in his and started flying down the tunnel, but as he rounded the corner and went through the opening to the abandoned subway, something slammed into him, cutting him across the face or biting him. Doug squeezed off several rounds as he flipped through the air before landing on both feet. He watched two vampires explode with bloodcurdling shrieks.

She landed at his side, and they quickly realized they were outnumbered—badly. She shifted her position so they were back-to-back, and as they drew their other guns, Doug and Olivia took in the horrifying scene that surrounded them. Standing on the abandoned, broken tracks, they were surrounded by at least twenty vampires. Snarling, drooling, and wild with hunger, they began to close the circle.

“Sweet Jesus,” he whispered.

“I doubt he’ll hear you,” she said as her body tensed against his.

They started firing, and all hell broke loose. Doug hit several with the UV rounds, and they burst into flames in shrieks of agony. As he reloaded, two rogues leaped on him and started biting his neck. One tried to bite his arm, but the two layers of leather he wore afforded him some protection.

Doug roared in fury as he grabbed a small wild-eyed woman and threw her into the wall just before putting a bullet in her head. He tugged the other one off his back and ripped his head off in one swoop. Strength and pure power flowed through him as he fired his weapons and killed one creature after another. Rapid gunfire, bursts of flames, shrill death cries, and clouds of dust filled the air, stinging his eyes and coating his mouth with dusted vampire.

Olivia moved faster than he thought possible and killed several more with the sure shot of a sniper. He ducked as she threw silver stars past his head that sliced through two vamps like butter. He reloaded and shot several more, turning them to ash, but when he swung around to check on Olivia she pointed her gun and screamed, “Get down.”

Doug ducked as she discharged her weapon and turned a charging vampire into a cloud of ash. The cavernous space fell silent as the two of them, covered in blood and dust, looked around to be sure they got them all.

“What the fuck was that?” Doug asked in a low voice as he scanned the room. “So much for two or three. There had to be at least twenty of those things. Who the hell is making all of them?”

“I don’t know,” Olivia said. “Whoever did this started making these vamps awhile ago, and at the rate they’re growing, the city will be overrun in a matter of weeks. Rogue One wasn’t here, and I don’t remember seeing Moriarty in the melee.”

“Nope.” Doug shook his head. “Me either.”

“This isn’t the nest either,” she said as she inspected the area. “It’s too exposed. Too many tunnels in and out. Damn it. We need another night to find the nest. It’s almost sunrise.”

Doug wiped the blood away wearily as two more vamps flew down from an arch in the ceiling and right at them. Olivia unexpectedly pushed him out of the way, but he recovered, jumping back onto his feet just as one of the rogues tackled her. She fired, and the one on top of her exploded just before Doug shot the other as it swooped around. As the last one exploded in a cloud of fire and its shrieks echoed around them, everything fell silent.

Muscles straining, his entire body vibrated, and his senses remained alert as he kept his gun pointed at the cloud of dust. He waited for more, but none followed. It took a moment for him to realize that Olivia was still on the ground and quiet.

“Olivia?” Panic swamped him when he saw her unmoving, bloody form on the ground.

Doug went to her side and gently lifted her into his arms. Holding her limp body, horror filled him when he saw the massive gash on her neck. If she had been human, she would have been dead. Her head lolled in the crook of his arm, and her eyes rolled back in her head.

“Oh my God.” He picked her up and looked around the room, feeling helpless for the first time since this crazy mess started. “It’s okay. I have to get you out of here before more show up.”

He had some ammo left, but not enough to take on another swarm. She moaned, and he watched as the wound started to close, but it wasn’t happening fast enough, and she was losing too much blood.

Blood.

That was it.

It’s going to be okay, Olivia. He touched her mind with his with an odd familiarity, as though he had been doing it his entire life. Maybe he had. The instant he linked his mind with hers, everything felt like it was going to be okay.

As he flew through the tunnels carrying her limp body, he wondered if the dreams were more connected to her than he previously thought. He wanted more than answers… he wanted her. There was more to her—more to them. Hell. He glanced at her pale, blood-streaked face, and something inside of him broke as he realized the truth.

He loved her.

He loved the woman from his dreams, and no woman he ever met could stand up against that redheaded siren—until Olivia. She was a part of him. This unique, strong, feisty woman was everything he was searching for,