Page 25 of Peacemaker

Chapter Eight

A Turn for the Worse

Clayton was waiting for me when I re-entered the house. He said nothing, just stood and opened his arms.

I sighed and walked into them, relaxing as I slid my hands around his waist. He’d wanted some sexy time with me before I’d walked into the graveyard, but I didn’t have to tell him it wouldn’t be happening.

He knew.

“I’m going to take a quick shower.” I leaned back in his embrace. “I have an uneasy feeling about tonight.”

He nodded. “It will be a long night.”

I kissed him and tasted something different on his lips. He was no longer the golem. He was the hunter.

“I can see it,” I said. “I can feel it, taste it…you’re different now.”

He smiled. “I’m who I was before she changed me.”

I shivered at the mention of Miriam. “I hope she stays in hell.”

He brushed his lips across mine. “And I hope,” he said, “that when she returns, we will be ready for her.”

“Dammit, Clayton,” I whispered. “No.”

His stare softened. “Go clean up, Trinity.”

My throat dry, I hurried away.

Fifteen minutes later, as I was getting dressed, the captain called.

“Some of the people those vampires killed,” he said, his voice strained. “They turned. The vampires are turning the humans they bite.”

“That’s not possible. Being turned is a process that most humans can’t live through. No human can turn in a couple of hours.”

But even as I said it, I knew I was wrong. There was something going on. Something different. I’d been feeling it all night.

Crawford heard the belief in my voice. “They’re like babies right now, these newly turned…corpses.” His voice was cold. “Go to the hospital and give them the true death. Afterward, I want you to hunt down every last one of the bloodsucking motherfuckers and cut their hearts out. Is that something you can do, Sinclair?”

“Why are you mad at me?” I bellowed.

“Because you’re in bed with the fucking vampires, aren’t you, Trinity? One, in particular? Your nonhumans are destroying us.”

“Captain…”

“Kill the turned humans, Trinity. Just…go kill them.” He hung up.

“What does this mean?” I muttered, walking into the living room. Jin stood in the middle of the room, as though waiting for me. “I need Clayton and Shane,” I told him. “Have you seen them?”

“They’re in the kitchen, where they always are. I will fetch them.”

When they joined me a couple of minutes later, I was still standing in the exact same spot, my mind whirling.

“More vampires?” Clayton asked, and there was a familiar eagerness in his voice. It was the same eagerness Shane and I felt when it was time to hunt. Time to kill.

“Sort of,” I murmured. “The humans attacked earlier tonight have turned. We have to go put them down.”

“That’s—”