Unseen (2 page)

He laughed, his dark gaze pinned on Trina. He lifted his nose to sniff the air between them. “You smell strange but good. Are you one of us?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” The last thing in the world she wanted to be was a pathetic bloodsucker with nothing better to do than stalk the shadows for human victims. Though she
kinda
did something similar, she didn’t have to actually hunt the vamps down. They usually came to her. She couldn’t help wondering why this one didn’t seem to sense the Allure, an intoxicating magnetism able to naturally draw vampires to her. It was an ancient power forced on her centuries ago, and she’d had no choice but to embrace it. Most of the time, for the price of a mound of ash and a longer existence, it was well worth it.

“Who are you, then?” he asked, eyeing her curiously.

Trina smiled. “I believe I’ll be your executioner tonight.”

He laughed again and tightened his hold on Brenna. She was biting down on her bottom lip, crying quietly as the unnamed vamp licked the side of her neck and collarbone. The fact she was reacting only confirmed this vampire had no idea what he was doing. Any vamp worth their ash would have locked Brenna’s mind and had her looking like a useless zombie already. This guy was pathetic.

“Okay, I’m getting a little tired of this,” she told him impatiently. “You either let her go willingly, or I’ll make you.” Trina took another step and so did he, forcing Brenna to shuffle forward in front of him.

“You smell nice,” he repeated. He was still smiling, but now looked more captivated than anything else. Something he should’ve done to his would-be victim. “I think I’ll drink from you after I’m done with this one.”

Trina sighed. Did they always have to make things harder for her? She closed the distance between them and smacked him square in the face with her fist.

“Oh, fuck . . . my nose!” he bellowed, stumbling back so suddenly his grip on Brenna slipped. The girl made a move to slide out of his arms, but the vamp didn’t completely lose his grip on her. “Fuck! I’m going to make you pay for that.” He shoved Brenna aside, sending her flying across the docking area until she smacked the back of her head against the parked forklift. She slumped to the dusty floor.

The vamp glared at Trina with wide, crazed eyes. A line of blood dribbled from one nostril, and he hadn’t bothered to retract his fangs.

“I’m going to tear out your throat,” he murmured, stepping forward. “And I’m going to enjoy it.”

“I don’t think so.” What B-grade movie was this guy picking up lines from? She wasn’t going to let some asshole vamp get his fangs anywhere near her. She’d never succumbed to one of these disgusting creatures before, and she wasn’t about to start now.

“Come here, you!” he ordered.

Trina ducked just as he rushed her, flipping him over her back. He landed with a thump, sending a cloud of dust into the air, but was back on his feet in seconds.

“You’re good,” he said, licking his lips. The blood from his nose was now dribbling into his mouth. “But I’m better.” He leaped into the air, kicking her ribs on the way down. He made a grab for her sweater, but she jerked away before he could use it to reel her in. The sound of tearing echoed louder than it should have as she put several feet between them.

Damn.
He’d ruined a perfectly good sweater.

“So far, I’m not impressed,” she taunted.

“You bitch.” He ran at her again, claws out in front of him and fanged mouth gaping. She punched him in the mouth, and he staggered back, one foot slipping on the dusty floor. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! You broke my tooth!”

He straightened, opening his mouth in a snarl. Sure enough, one of his fangs was now cracked in half. She could feel the pointy end stuck into the back of her hand but didn’t waste the time looking.

“Don’t worry about it. I only broke one.” This was getting old fast, and soon she’d have to get back to her job of standing around. So instead of waiting for his next move, she grabbed a box from the metal shelf beside her and threw it at him. She didn’t know what was in it, but it was heavy enough to send him flying backwards until his spine smashed against the wall.

Trina scanned the area. Without her wooden stake she wouldn’t be able to finish him off, so she had to improvise. A stack of pallets caught her eye. Perfect.

Chancing it, she ran across the dusty room and tore off the end of one wooden plank. She was back in time to watch the vampire push the heavy box off his chest and get to his feet. But she stood waiting with a makeshift stake clutched in her hand, the splintered end stuck out in front of her and ready to impale him.

“Trina, please report to the service desk. Trina, report to the service desk.”

The intercom call made her pulse quicken. Shit. That was Zeke.

The vampire took the opportunity to charge her, using his shoulder to push her off balance. She went sprawling to the ground, but somehow managed to keep her hold on the stake.

He was suddenly there, staring down at her with a satisfied grin curving his bloody lips. “I’ll kill you, bitch.”

“I’ve been called worse names.” She’d also met many vamps stupid enough to gloat in their temporary success to know that she was about to win the battle. She wrapped her fingers around his ankle and pulled on it, sending him crashing to the ground beside her.

Trina climbed to her feet by clawing at the dust now caking her fingers. She grabbed the vamp’s jacket as he got up, and used it to shove him into the stack of metal shelves fixed to the ground and ceiling. The frame wobbled under the impact but it would hold. She kicked her leg out and struck him in the gut before he could react. When he leaned over, she kneed him in the face.

She didn’t give him time to straighten before raising the piece of wood high into the air and plunging it into the vampire’s back. He cried out and dropped to his knees, struggling to pull out the lodged piece of wood. But it was lights out for this guy.

Trina stood poised and waiting, breathing heavily as she watched the show of vampire-turning-into-gory-corpse before settling into a neat pile of ash. It took only moments for it to happen, but her heart still drummed hard against her ribs. She didn’t want to get busted in the middle of this. She might have just stopped a workmate from being bitten, but as long as there wasn’t a corpse by the time Zeke found her, she could hopefully explain her way around the reason for her being here.

Before she realized what she was doing, Trina had dropped to her knees, pulled out the key chain she kept in her pocket, and pushed aside the pile of vamp clothing. Using her fingers, she scooped as much of the vamp ash as she could into the plastic container attached to her key chain, trying to keep her locker key out of the way. She had several of these canisters in her bag, waiting to store the ash she would eventually put to good use. She had them in a variety of sizes. The older the vamp, the more ash there was to collect. And judging by the small pile of this one, he was definitely a newbie.

Getting her fingers filthy with it, she managed to get most of the ash inside before getting to her feet. She grabbed the jeans, T-shirt, and boots and dumped them into a nearby trash bin, making sure to move the contents around so that no one would see the discarded men’s clothing. Most of the time, she didn’t bother with getting rid of the clothes. Unless she liked a particular item and decided to take it, or didn’t want to rouse too much suspicion. And leaving some guy’s clothes just lying around in the docking area would definitely arouse suspicion.

Trina returned to the spot where she’d staked him and tried to kick the remainder of the ash aside with her shoe, hoping it would blend in with the dust. Then she made her way over to Brenna and stared at her for a moment. The girl was still out cold.

Who’d let the stupid vamp out on his own so soon, and more importantly, why?

“Brenna, are you okay?” Trina asked, thinking it best to act as if she’d just found her. She slapped the young girl’s cheeks lightly. She looked a lot younger than the other people who worked here.

“Huh?” The girl’s head rolled from side to side and she opened her eyes, looking at Trina with a dazed expression. “What’s going on?”

“Trina, please report to the service desk. Trina, report to the service desk.”

She looked up toward the speaker in the ceiling. Damn! She couldn’t keep avoiding the call. Nice guy or not, Zeke would eventually get pissed off enough to come searching for her.

“It looks like you slipped or something.” Trina grabbed her by the arm. “Here, I’ll help you get up.” She figured that if she made a grand entrance back into the store with an injured workmate, it would help keep her out of trouble after deserting her post.

“Okay,” Brenna said. “
Ow
! The back of my head hurts.” She made a move to touch it as Trina used her strength to get the girl to her feet. “Thanks, Trina. I appreciate it. I think I bumped my head.”

“Yeah, it looks like you hit yourself pretty hard. Come on.” With one arm supporting Brenna, Trina led her across the dusty concrete floor and past the plastic divider doors, waltzing back into the well-lit store.

She blinked a few times, letting her eyes adjust to the bright lights, before continuing forward. When they cleared the top of the aisle, Zeke spotted her and ran toward them.

His blue eyes were wide, and his gaze switched from Brenna to Trina in obvious confusion. “What happened?”

“I think I fell or fainted or something.” Brenna rubbed the back of her head. “Thank God Trina found me, or I might’ve bled to death.”

Zeke looked directly at the girl. “You’re bleeding?”

“I don’t think so,” Brenna said. “But there’s definitely a lump, and my head hurts.”

“Trina, you’re not supposed to leave the service desk,” Zeke said, switching his attention to her.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just saw her go in there and she didn’t come out for ages. I tried calling the extension and she didn’t answer, and—”

“Okay, I get it,” he cut her off, turning to Brenna. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I don’t know . . .”

“Why don’t you head home?” Zeke suggested.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to let her drive in this condition?” Trina couldn’t help wondering if the vamp had come alone. She doubted it. He’d been too stupid, too new, and definitely too clueless for this to have been his idea. If the vampire he’d come with was waiting outside, who knew what would happen to Brenna.

Zeke shook his head. “It’s okay. Brenna doesn’t drive. Her parents drop her off and pick her up.” He touched Brenna’s arm lightly and color rose on the girl’s cheeks. Trina almost rolled her eyes. Apparently the girl also had a crush on Zeke. “Why don’t you go to the office and call your parents to come and get you? Then take it easy until they get here. Trina will call you down when they get here. I’ll cover the floor for the rest of the night.”

“Are you sure?” Brenna asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll meet you there so we can fill out an accident report. Other than that, you just need to relax.”

Brenna nodded and stepped away from them, still rubbing her head. She paused after a few steps and looked over her shoulder. “Thanks, Trina.”

Trina shrugged. There was no way Brenna would ever know just what Trina had saved her from. If she was right about the vampire, once he’d started blood sucking, he wouldn’t have stopped until Brenna didn’t have a pulse.

Brenna shuffled away and Zeke turned to Trina. “I appreciate you helping her when she got in trouble. Did you see what happened?”

“I found her lying on the ground.” Technically, correct. “So I’m not sure. Maybe she slipped and fell, and hit her head against the shelving. I don’t know.”

His features tightened. “Just remember that you can’t walk away like that. Next time, call me before you take off. And by the way, you’ve ripped your sweater.”

“Shit.” She pulled the hem of her woolen uniform sweater to inspect the uneven tear on the side. It wasn’t pretty. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you a new one before we leave tonight.”

“Thanks.” She glanced toward Brenna’s back as the girl headed for the office. It was good to know that there were still a handful of people who were worth saving. It made her sacrifice a little easier to bear, although the ash weighing heavy in her pocket made
everything
all right.

“Let’s get back to work, huh?” he said with a smile. “Just call me if you need me. I’ll be out on the floor for a while, before I duck into the office to fill out Brenna’s accident report and make sure she’s all right.” Zeke paused and looked at her for a moment too long. She wasn’t sure why, and it made her uneasy.