Frost Burn

  They’re not fools, Julian decided.

  “You idiots!” Scully barked. “She’s burned herself out, bring her to me!”

  “Stay away from her,” Julian hissed to the people gathered around him before stepping away from them.

  “For once I’m not going to argue with you,” Chris muttered but he and Melissa spread out as they moved into the barroom behind him.

  “No one is bringing anyone anywhere,” Julian said in a low voice as he tried to keep his eyes on the girl near the poolroom and Scully by the front door.

  The four men standing in between him and the girl all took an abrupt step toward her before taking two more back toward him. Julian would have laughed at the torn looks on their faces if they weren’t a danger, no matter how small. The fact they were frightened made them a bigger threat, but the biggest menace remained standing by the front door.

  Julian braced his feet apart and dropped his hands to his side, Scully wasn’t foolish enough to attack him, but he stood in between the other vampires and the door. Those vamps were going to do everything in their power to get out of here, something he wasn’t going to allow after their attack on the girl. This group was up to something, and he was going to find out what.

  “I didn’t think I’d ever see your ugly mug again, Scully,” Julian said.

  “I’d hoped to never see yours again,” Scully grated from between his teeth.

  “This,” Julian said and waved his hand in front of his face. “Is far from ugly.” Scully sneered at him; Chris and Melissa made a disgusted sound. “What are you doing here?”

  “Anything pertaining to vampire business stopped having anything to do with you when you turned your back on us.”

  “I did no such thing.”

  “You helped to destroy The Elders.”

  “Zane and his cohorts got what they deserved and you know it,” Julian retorted.

  “You’re killing us off one by one.”

  He shifted his feet, his gaze slid toward the girl when she took a step back and adjusted her hold on the two stakes in her hand. His attention returned to Scully when the other vampires moved further away from her. “Only the ones who deserve it.”

  “Who are you to judge? You were one of the worst of us.”

  “I still am.” Julian gave him a smile that revealed his elongated canines. “I just play by a different set of rules now. A moral code of conduct, you could say.”

  Scully’s upper lip began to twitch. His buddies looked as if they were actually contemplating plowing through the wall in order to get out of here, but no one moved. “You’re a pussy,” Scully spat.

  “I can still kick your ass all over this bar,” Julian assured him.

  For the first time fear flickered over Scully’s face. Julian knew he was going to make a move before he did. He rushed forward as Scully spun to the side. Scully grabbed one of the high top tables, lifted it over his head and heaved it at him. It flew through the air with the deadly trajectory of a missile.

  Julian flung his arm up to knock the table aside. The fifty-pound wood and metal table slammed off of his forearm. One of the wooden legs shattered on impact and the rest of the table spun away into the wall with a loud crash. A snarl tore from Julian as pain lanced down his arm; his hand flipped over to catch the broken leg of the chair before it could fall to the floor.

  Pulling his arm back, he flung the leg sidearm at Scully. The vampire flung himself toward the ground, but the broken end of the leg still drove into his arm with enough force to bury itself halfway into his flesh and bone. Scully let out a yelp; he tried to roll away as Julian leapt at him.

  Shoving his foot into Scully’s back, he pushed him so hard into the ground that the piercing crack of one of his ribs breaking resonated through the barroom. Squealing like a trapped rodent, Scully’s arms and legs flailed at the floor. He tried to get his hands under him, but Julian forced him down again.

  With Scully firmly pinned to the ground, Julian lifted his head to take in the others. Melissa had one of the vampires pinned against the wall; the girl had two cornered in the poolroom. Julian almost laughed at the spectacle of the men cowering against the wall in an attempt to stay away from the woman who had killed their friend. Luther and Zach closed in on her right and left; they were giving her the same look they would a hungry anaconda.

  Chris stood over the body of the other one, a stake protruded from the center of the vamp’s chest. Julian turned away from them, he bent down to get a better look at Scully. Rabid dogs would have been afraid of the look on Scully’s face; Julian simply smiled at him. “What were you and your friends planning here, Scully?”

  Scully spat at him, but in his position, the liquid didn’t get very far. “Not smart.” Julian pressed his foot into Scully’s back hard enough to crack more of his ribs. Scully let out a low moan, his fingers left scratch marks as they dug into the dark wood beneath him. “Now why were you looking for this girl?”

  This time when Scully tried to spit at him all that gurgled up from his mouth was a stream of blood. He could pull the answers from Scully by touching him, but he found this a much more preferable way to extract the information he sought. If Scully didn’t spill what he knew, then Julian would dive in and tear the answers from him.

  “Give me a stake,” Julian commanded and held his hand out to Lou. The color had drained from Lou’s face as he approached, but his hand remained steady when he handed the stake over. “I’m not going to ask you again, Scully.”

  He removed his foot from Scully’s back. Before the vampire could leap to his feet, Julian drove the stake halfway through his back. Scully howled, his hands flattened against the floor. He went completely still as the stake brushed against his heart.

  “One more centimeter,” Julian murmured. “And I’ll be dragging your body out for the sunrise tomorrow. Now tell me what you meant by, “we’ve been looking all over for you,” and just who is looking?”

  “You’re going to kill me anyway,” Scully retorted.

  Julian twisted the stake a little. The sides of it scraped against bone and caused Scully to jerk reflexively. “But I can make it fast or I can make you squirm for days. You know me; you know what I’m capable of.” A low moan escaped Scully, his whole body convulsed again when Julian twisted the stake once more. “You know how much joy I find in the pain of others. Now what are you doing here?”

  “You saw what she can do!” Scully blurted. “A Seer had a vision about what she can do too. We’ve been hunting for her.”

  “How did you know she is the vampire of this Seers vision?”

  “I didn’t know it was her when we came in here.”

  Julian glanced up at the girl. Her eyes were focused on Scully. “Do they know what she looks like?”

  “No. Her face hasn’t been revealed yet.”

  The yet didn’t sit well with him. There was a chance another vision could reveal her face to them, it might be a slim one, but he didn’t like it. “What do the vampires want with her?” Julian inquired.

  Scully started to shake his head. When Julian turned the stake so it dug sideways into his flesh he began to rattle off words so fast Julian had a difficult time following them. “For protection against you and yours! To rebuild our future. To be the leaders The Elders once were, but to be stronger and faster. Her ability and…”

  Scully’s words broke off as a round of coughing caused blood and spittle to fly from his lips. “And what?” Julian inquired when the coughing stopped.

  “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. We need her against your kind!” Scully blurted.

  “Oh, my kind,” Julian purred. “You could be one of my kind.”

  “A whipped puppy? I’d rather die!” he spat.

  Scully cringed away from him when Julian rested his hand on his cheek, but Scully would never escape him. His time with Scully was coming to an end; however, he had to make sure they’d learned everything they could before he finished the job. He enjoyed a good b
it of torture, just not in front of these people, and not in front of her. He didn’t know why but the idea of her seeing that side of him unsettled him.

  “And you will,” Julian promised.

  Julian drove the stake the rest of the way through, piercing his heart. Scully jerked, his hands beat against the floor; his feet kicked in the air. Strangled sounds escaped him, blood spilled from his lips, the muscles in his neck stood sharply out. His face turned completely red before he finally went still.

  “Kill them,” he said to the others and tossed the stake back to Lou.

  “What if there’s more they can tell us?” Chris protested.

  “There’s nothing more, at least not anything truthful.”

  “I’ll tell you anything!” The one with Melissa protested instantly.

  “You don’t know anything,” Julian told him. Melissa looked questioningly at him when the man began to spew denials. “Do it.”

  She gave Julian a grim smile before plunging the stake into the vampire’s heart. The last few vampires were rapidly dispatched by the girl and Chris, their undead yet lifeless bodies thumped loudly as they fell to the floor. They would have to deal with the remains soon, but there was something far more important to deal with now as his gaze fell upon the only other vampire in the bar.

  Her chin jutted out, she braced her legs apart as she relentlessly held his gaze. He had to admire her fire, but he’d kill her if it became necessary.

  “Now, what do we do with you?” the exceedingly deadly vampire across from her inquired.

  Quinn’s teeth grated together. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this mess with her life still intact. She had enough power to take out at least two of the humans but she hoped she wouldn’t be forced to do that. Besides, after watching this group she knew they were more than human, or at least some of them were. She should still be able to drain one and at least jolt another in order to escape the bar, but she doubted she’d be able to outrun him. Not after what she’d just witnessed.

  He was ruthless, he was brutal, but more than that, he was fast. Even if she could shock him enough to knock him off of her, she’d never be able to outrun him. “You’re not going to do anything with me,” she retorted with far more bravado than she felt.

  She held her hands up before her and looked pointedly at the two humans standing closest to her. Their eyebrows shot up, they took an abrupt step away from her. “She has to touch you,” the man with the glasses said, drawing her attention back to him. “She’s powerful.” She didn’t like the inquisitive, excited gleam in his eyes one little bit. “But she has to touch you in order to drain you.”

  “Drain us?” the beautiful black haired woman inquired.

  “She’s a Soul Master; it’s an exceptionally rare gift…”

  “Gift,” Quinn snorted. “We have different ideas on what constitutes a present.”

  The man gave her a small smile. “It’s a gift if you know how to use it.”

  “I know how to use it, and I know what it can do.”

  “I’m sure you do.” He took a step away from her and walked over to sit on the edge of the pool table in a gesture meant to put her at ease. It failed to make her feel any more relaxed. “I just witnessed the damage you can do, but you can also breathe life back into things. Humans, animals, plants, you can give them all life again.”

  Her mouth parted as she gazed at the people gathered within the room. She’d suspected they were more than human when she’d seen them move, his words only solidified it in her mind.

  But none of it made any sense, what would a group of Hunters be doing with a vampire? Her gaze drifted back to the imposing figure standing near the front door. Julian folded his arms over his chest while he held her gaze.

  She turned her attention back to the man on the pool table. “You’re a Guardian.”

  He smiled as he waved his hand toward the lanky youth on her other side. “We are.”

  She glanced between the other girl and two boys. The ones who had been faster and more lethal while killing the vampires. “And you’re Hunters.”

  “We are,” the boy with sandy blond hair confirmed.

  A strange tug pulled at the area of her heart but she shoved it aside. The past was the past, and she definitely didn’t have time to get caught up in her memories right now. “I’d heard most of you were dead.” She kept her face completely impassive when she uttered the words, but she felt like she had a big sign over her head screaming liar. She’d never reveal she’d done more than heard to this group of strangers.

  “We took a big hit during The Slaughter, but we’re working to find more survivors and rebuild our numbers,” the man on the pool table answered.

  “Have you heard what happened to The Elders?” the vamp inquired as he stepped forward.

  She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I have, but I don’t do a whole lot of talking with vampires.”

  His gaze slid over her once more. “You run into our kind often?”

  “I try to avoid it at all costs.”

  “And why is that?”

  “I don’t exactly have a good track record with them,” she replied with a wave at the dead bodies. “They certainly didn’t seem pleased to see you either.”

  His eyes actually sparkled as he flashed her a smile that revealed his perfectly even, white teeth. She imagined his smile had disarmed many women around the world; she scowled back at him. His grin only widened. He dropped his arms to his side and came at her with a mesmerizing grace. She shifted defensively and gripped her stake tighter.

  “There are reasons for that,” he told her.

  “I’m sure there are,” she retorted.

  Julian didn’t look amused by her now as his face hardened. “You’ve attracted attention to yourself. After seeing what you can do, and hearing about this vision, I can guarantee they’re going to keep coming for you.”

  “They don’t know where I am or who I am.”

  “If someone has had a vision of what you can do, they could also see where you are and possibly your face.”

  “You can’t know that,” she protested.

  “I can and I do. There are more of them, many more out there looking for you.”

  She folded her arms over her chest as she looked him up and down. “Is that your super power? You can tell when people are lying.”

  “I’m not a comic book character. I don’t have super powers.”

  No, he most certainly wasn’t fictional, but she didn’t know how else to describe it. “Whatever you want to call it then.”

  “Not that,” the boy with the sandy blond hair said. “But Julian is right, the man wasn’t lying.”

  Julian’s eyes remained pinned on hers as he took another step forward. “They want you, and they’ll do everything they can to find you.”

  “Thanks for letting me know,” she replied with a casual air she didn’t entirely feel. “I’ll make sure to stay on the lookout.”

  “You’re not a killer,” Julian said.

  She waved her hand toward the shrunken body near his feet. “I think that guy would disagree with you.”

  “You know what I mean.” His gravelly voice sent a shiver down her spine. “Do you kill humans?”

  “No.” Or at least not in six years, she added silently.

  “And that’s why we haven’t killed you yet.”

  Her hands clenched. “I’m not easy to take down.”

  “No, you’re not,” he agreed. “But we both know it can be done.”

  Her upper lip curled back, she was half-tempted to give him a blast he would never forget. The only problem was she didn’t know how much it would actually affect him, and she still wasn’t up to full power. “Try it.”

  His smile, no matter how dazzling, grated on her nerves. “If I planned to try it, I already would have. We’re all on the same side here.”

  “Your side is a freak show,” she muttered.

  “Been called worse,” the sandy blond said
. His sapphire colored eyes held hers as he extended his hand toward her.

  Quinn’s gaze fell to his hand before shooting back up to him. “You want to touch me?”

  “I understand you jolting Julian earlier. Believe me, I know how much he deserves it, and so did that other vampire. I’m trusting you.” There were few who had ever known about her ability and been willing to touch her. They were all gone now, but she’d never expected a stranger to say those words to her. Especially after what he’d just witnessed. She cautiously took hold of his hand. “I’m Chris.”

  “Quinn.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Quinn.”

  The slender, raven-haired girl stepped forward next and enfolded both of Quinn’s hands within hers. “Melissa.”

  The others introduced themselves to her, Julian came last. A daring sparkle lit his eyes as he extended his hand to her. “Julian, but you already know that.” The tempting urge to give him a zap still ran through her, but when his hand enfolded hers she ended up being the one to experience a shock. Her hand instinctively tightened around his. Heat sizzled over her skin, up her arm, and into her chest. His eyes flickered as they ran over her face before she pulled her hand away. “There is a lot of power in you,” he murmured.

  “In you too.”

  His smile wasn’t nearly as one thousand watt or as careless as it had been before. “I’ve got some age on me, but I’d guess you’re no older than twenty in vampire years. You feel at least a hundred if not more though.”

  There was no way she would ever tell him the truth about her. She already felt too exposed around him and his merry group. “I guess some of us are just different.”

  He leaned closer to her and though neither of them breathed, the minty scent of his breath washed over her. “That we are. Some of us can even see things others desire to keep hidden.”

  Unable to suppress a shudder, she stared defiantly back at him. “And you are one of those vampires I take it.”

  “I am.” Before she could question him further about his ability, he turned on his heel and walked away from her. “We have to get rid of these bodies before daybreak.”

  Questions spun through her mind as he bent and tossed the body of the one he’d staked over his shoulder.