That’s when she heard Jack Childers start screaming in pain.

  Jack and his posse came riding hard into the town. “Stanton!” he yelled up at the gate guard as he rode past. “Ring the alarm bell!”

  The bell’s ringing caused another ten men to come out of the buildings. The riders dismounted, and the horses were gathered up and taken to the stable. The men formed in the middle of the street, Jack looking around, ready to pull together his defenses.

  “Men!” Jack called out. “We’ve been attacked by something evil in the Fallen Lands. We have…”

  A voice, dark and malicious, cut through the night, stopping Jack’s speech cold. “How nice of you to gather everyone in one place.”

  The men, some pulling out their pistols, looked around in alarm. The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere, even from inside their damned heads!

  The voice continued, “So, this is how evil perseveres? Men who are willing to follow the decrepit in spirit, the weak in heart, for selfish gain. Allowing the soul that should be free, subjugated? Where is the honor in that?”

  Jack, looking around, couldn’t find where the voice was coming from. “Show yourself!”

  “Why, Jack?” the voice whispered. “I’m right here!”

  All of them turned to see two red eyes. The fear hit them at the same second, and most of them lost their ability to stand.

  Tony stumbled to the left, retaining enough muscle control to raise his pistol. The evil demon turned and walked toward him. He slid his hand over Tony’s gun hand and helped Tony point his own pistol at his own head.

  The man in black spoke. “There you go, pull the trigger, and the fear will go away,” he said, his voice velvet over steel.

  BAM!

  Jack and Russell, both fighting the fear from the ground had to watch the scene play out as Tony shot himself, the brains from his head spraying the side of the building.

  The demon turned towards them and reached under his coat. He pulled out a short sword. The metal gleamed in the moonlight, the lanterns around the town reflecting from the glinting silver steel.

  “You see, your sins give you away.”

  He stopped in front of Earl Withers and knelt down. “You cut off the fingers of those who upset you?” He stood up and stepped on Earl’s wrist. “Eenie, meenie… screw it.” Earl screamed in pain.

  “That’s one finger for each time you did it, Earl.” He started walking around the group again, eyeing Jack and Russell and pointing at them with his sword. “I’ll get to you two in a moment.”

  It took Michael five minutes to dispatch them. Then Russell and Jack faced him. His eyes weren’t glowing anymore.

  But they were...

  Alone.

  Chapter Six

  “What the fuck has that bitch ever done for you?” Jack grated out. “You killed over forty men.”

  “Fifty,” Russell spat, still fighting the fear racking his body.

  “What the fuck ever, Russell.” Jack snapped. “Why is one slut worth fifty men to you?”

  Michael looked down at the two men. “You’re asking me why I kill your people? When you intended to kill the four in the house, especially the woman?” He got no response. “Then, you want to argue with me that perhaps I went overboard with killing fifty people to your planned four?”

  “Fuck… you…” Russell cursed at him.

  “My my my.” Michael walked over to stand above the large man. “Here, let me help you focus.” Michael reached inside his coat and pulled out a pistol. One Jack didn’t recognize. “Now, I don’t know that you have ever heard this speech before, so you probably won’t know how I changed it, Jack...” he nodded to the other man. “… or you, Russell.”

  The gun had something glowing on the side, and Michael pointed it down at Russell. “This is a Jean Dukes’ special, or so the note informed me. It’s the most powerful handgun on this planet at the moment. In fact, I have a version that goes to eleven.” He turned the pistol in his hand and admired it. “I’m not really into guns myself. I prefer swords, or just claws usually. However…” he turned the gun back, once again pointing it at Russell. “I think this is an appropriate use for the gun, right? You shoot others, the death by the weapon is appropriate, right Russell?” The man’s eyes went wide as the pistol aimed at him. “You will notice the gun barrel hole is rather tiny. The reason I’m not asking you, ‘how many shots have I fired, punk,’ is that this baby will shoot about five thousand.”

  Michael smirked. “And there is no way I’m wasting that many shots to make the conversation fit the movie I’m stealing this from. So…” Michael depressed the trigger and Russell’s head exploded, disintegrating into mist, his body twitching for a second before it stilled.

  Michael returned the pistol to his holster, and the fear receded. Jack was able to turn and see the destruction of his friend.

  When he turned back around to face the stranger, he saw the man had red eyes and fangs. In fact, he had also grown two-inch nails on his right hand.

  Jack started screaming and continued crying after Michael plunged his hand into his chest. Breaking through his rib cage easily, he tore through the blood vessels holding the heart and pulled it out. Jack had just enough life in him to hear Michael’s whispered statement.

  “I’m being called a Messiah, Jack,” Michael said as he watched the life leave Jack’s eyes.

  “Just not yours,” he finished and dropped the heart beside the dead man and stood up, and sniffed the wind.

  His eyes narrowed, and he turned in the street before walking towards a scent he hadn’t expected to smell.

  The scent of Were.

  Jacqueline could hear the pain, the questions, the violence outside.

  And her body trembled.

  This man wasn’t just any killer. He was someone from her world, the UnknownWorld, and he wasn’t a Were. He had to be a vampire, and her father had warned her many, many times that she needed to get ahold of her anger over her mother dying. Because one day, she might run into a vampire and if she didn’t know how to keep her anger in check?

  Well, vampires often had a no second chances policy.

  A tear traced its way down her face. Thinking about her father, whom she had left so many years before to walk the Fallen Lands, caused her to revisit the guilt she felt in her soul. He had been right. She had been wrong, and now there was a vampire killing the men in this town.

  Correction, she thought as she heard the door to the mess open. He was here with her, not out in the town.

  She opened her hand and let the stick drop. It didn’t matter, she couldn’t see. What was she going to do, swing wildly at him? Hope to connect her stick to his head and then do what? He would just heal, and come find her.

  His voice, when he spoke, was gentle. “I smell you, and you hear me. So let’s talk.”

  Jacqueline wiped the tear off of her cheek and stood up. She reached out with her left hand to grab the wall to feel exactly where she was.

  About to die or not, she wasn’t going to go out like those two assholes out in the street, crying like the little bitches they were.

  She heard him laugh softly.

  “I’m coming,” she told him when her hand reached the door opening. She opened the door and stepped out, cocking her ear to find his heartbeat. Then she turned her head towards the door he had come through.

  He started tapping, allowing her to find his position accurately. She had deftly passed three of the tables when he commanded, “Stop!”

  She stopped in place.

  “One moment,” he said. She could hear him pull something from his coat and then a very tiny, high-pitched noise followed by a huge CRACK. A man cursed outside, then a body lurched off the porch to land in the street.

  He started walking towards her. “My apologies, they thought to intrude on our conversation.” She heard him pick up a chair. “This would have been in your way. If you turn around, you can sit down.”

  Her hands trembling, Jacqueline turned around to feel one of the chairs gently bump up against the back of her legs. “It has armrests, use them to sit.”

  She reached back and found the armrests he was talking about. It took but a second for her to sit. He walked to stand in front of her. “Name?”

  “Jacqueline.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Jacqueline, my name is Michael,” he replied. “I can smell Were on you, but don’t understand why you can’t see.” His pause was short. “How did this happen?”

  “I was in the F-Fallen La… Lands...” she stuttered before taking a moment for a couple of calming breaths, and starting again. “I was in the Fallen Lands, seeking my fortune when the people I was with was attacked. I was shot, but not killed. I look young for my age.”

  “Yes, good genetics,” he agreed.

  “Well, not so good at the moment. I was sold to that bastard you killed outside.”

  “Jack?” he asked her. “Sorry, there are so many bastards dead out in the street, I’m just making sure I know which one.”

  She nodded. “He thought to keep me until I matured so he could… well, so he would be my first.”

  “Well, he would have been disappointed,” Michael commented. Her lips compressed and her face went from scared to annoyed.

  She was actually working on trying not to piss off the killer.

  She heard a dark chuckle. “No need to be annoyed. I don’t know your sexual status. But my experiences with Weres indicates that you’re a randy bunch, and your age isn’t anywhere near your looks. So, I guess he wouldn’t have been your first.”

  She shook her head. “Known many Weres, have you?”

  “Thousands,” he murmured, his attention somewhere else.

  Thousands? How could he have known thousands? She was the daughter of a very, very old and important Were and if she knew just ONE thousand, she would be shocked. She probably knew of less than three hundred.

  Seven of those were killed when she was captured.

  “I see,” his hand touched her face. No matter how gentle it was, she had to resist the desire to bite it.

  He said, in a normal speaking voice, “You try to bite me, and I will slap your mouth into tomorrow. It would not be nice to attempt to bite the hand that is going to return your sight to you.” His voice brooked no argument. “Now, grab the armrests, this will probably hurt for a second. I’ll try to do something that takes your mind off of it.”

  Jacqueline put her hands around the armrests and gripped hard. Not sure what the man was expecting to do, or how he was going to…

  OH… M… GOD!

  She felt like she was going to fall apart, the pleasure centers of her body were flooding as intensely as the fear aspect that had hit her earlier.

  She swore she heard women, screaming in pleasure, from the next building over. She bit down hard, trying to make sure she didn’t say, moan, or do anything she would be flaming embarrassed about later.

  She felt pain near her eye, but frankly, the overwhelming pleasure was making it hard to care about.

  In a few seconds, the pleasure started to recede, and she was left hyperventilating in the chair. She turned towards him, noticing that she saw an outline.

  AN OUTLINE!

  “Oh my God,” she choked out, her hands coming up to her eyes. “You’ve healed me.” She turned her head and could start to see the round blobs of tables. Turning back, she saw his face was becoming clear for her.

  “Oh… damn. You are fucking beautiful.” She just stopped her hands from reaching out to touch his face.

  “Well, thank you,” he answered.

  Her face blushed crimson. “I did NOT just say that out loud, did I?” Then something behind her eyes popped and everything was in focus. “What happened to your hair?” was the next thing to come out of her mouth.

  He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, his voice gruff. “Nanocytes are a four-letter word, that’s all I’m explaining.”

  “Oh, sorry!” She put a hand to her face. “I can’t believe I can see.” She started to get up, and he stepped back. “Although, the hairless look is very good on you.” She turned to look around the room. “How did you do it?”

  “This,” he answered, and she turned back around to see him holding up his index finger for her to look at. She moved closer to look at what he was showing her.

  There was a blood-covered silver fragment on the tip of his finger.

  “I was shot with silver?” She looked up at him for confirmation.

  He nodded. “I imagine that’s how they killed the others of your group.” He aimed his hand away from her and flicked the silver away.

  She turned towards the door. “There are visitors.” She stepped around him to grab her stick and came back. “I’ve been waiting to get a bit of my own back.”

  “You plan on hitting women?” Michael asked her.

  Her brows drew together and she sniffed the air and looked at him quizzically.

  “I think, perhaps, the effort to make you more comfortable when I had to find the silver was a little too strong?” he asked.

  She turned around, ripping off the apron and tossing it on a chair as she walked back to the kitchen. “Back door.”

  Michael raised an eyebrow as he looked at the front door and then turned to follow the Were woman.

  “Good plan.”

  Michael made sure Jacqueline had supplies and two horses.

  She would head towards Denver first, then try to meet back up with him, perhaps to move on to Chicago where her father lived if Michael wasn’t available.

  Since the Apoc, the temperatures had risen all over the land, and Denver had no major source of water. She would warn the local Were pack of the hunters using silver and then return to catch up to him inside Denver to help him understand how things worked these days.

  She was shocked to learn he didn’t know about how to get around the Fallen Lands at all.

  “How are you alive?” she muttered and then realized how it sounded. “Sorry.”

  She needed to see her father one more time if only to tell him that she loved him and that he was right. She really needed to work on her anger and how the hell was she supposed to know daywalking vampires existed?

  Michael was able to grab some food and other supplies. He stashed them on the handful of horses he was leading. He camped out for the night and part of the morning before he continued back towards Sarah Jennifer’s home.

  He could hear some muffled cursing as he came over a small rise. He stopped, allowing those at the house to see him and confirm he wasn’t an enemy, before casually walking down the rise towards the house.

  Breaking out of the trees into the area cleared around the house, he walked the horses into the stable. Dirk and Todd came over and helped him.

  “Take the supplies up to the house, I’m leaving shortly,” he told them before hearing the back door slam.

  “Well,” Todd smirked, “seems like the two rabbits are coming out of their hole.”

  Michael turned to him, confusion on his face. “Rabbits?”

  Todd said no more but pointed towards the house. “A dead man would be able to tell.”

  Michael stepped out of the stables and saw Jeremiah, a huge grin on his face, followed by Sarah Jennifer, a look of passion clearly written on hers as she tucked in her shirt.

  “Indeed,” Michael said over his shoulder to Todd.

  “Damned good to see you again, Michael!” Jeremiah held out his hand, but when Michael took it, he wrapped Michael up in a hug. “No handshakes for someone like you!”

  He stepped back and rubbed under his left arm. “Please tell me that’s a sword, and you’re not just happy to see me? Because if you’re happy to see me then I am going to go cry at my inferiority.”

  Sarah Jennifer slapped him on his arm. “Oh My God!” She stepped around and stopped before Michael, looking up in his face. “Michael Nacht, I owe you an apology... and a promise.”

  Michael raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, I was expecting Sarah Jennifer. Who are you and what have you done with her?” He made a point of looking at the woman who stepped into his personal space.

  She poked him in the middle of his chest. “I’m her, you dick!” Then she rested her forehead slowly down on Michael’s chest and started crying.

  Michael’s eyes opened wide in alarm and he looked at Jeremiah, confused. Jeremiah pantomimed patting her on the back, so Michael did so, being gentle. The woman started talking as she tried to clear her teardrops.

  “I was a bitch, ok? I was a kickass female who took no shit from anyone and GOD what a mistake.” She stepped back, into Jeremiah who wrapped her up in his arms. She cuddled against him for a second, composing herself. “Not no shit from no one. But the bitch part.” She wiped at her face. “Someone taught me that you can be gentle, and still not take any shit from anyone.” She looked up and kissed Jeremiah on the cheek before turning back to Michael. ” And I love him. So... I promise not to be that person again.”

  Michael, poleaxed, turned to Todd and Dirk who just smiled and shrugged their shoulders as if to say, ‘who knew?’

  “Well, you have more work ahead of you,” Michael started to explain but Jeremiah interrupted.

  “Boss Childers?” he asked.

  “Dead,” Michael confirmed.

  “Russell?” Todd asked from behind him.

  Michael turned to look at the man. “Very dead.”

  “What about his other guys?” Dirk kicked in.

  He shrugged. “Not sorry to say, no longer with us,” he answered.

  “What about all of the women over there?” Sarah Jennifer asked.

  “Free to be who they want to be. Anyone Jack used to attack me, plus one other, is dead,” he answered.

  “That’s the work we have ahead of us, helping them?” Jeremiah asked.

  Michael smiled at the man and turned to grab the one packhorse that he was keeping. “No,” he answered and stepped up into the saddle and turned towards the east. “I’m talking about your child. Sarah Jennifer is pregnant.” He touched his nose and gently popped the reins of the horse, which started trotting out of the yard.