Page 64 of Reapers Don’t Ride

Chapter

Seventeen

The house was still standing, the house where I’d spent the first decade after turning while Tralcon trained me how to kill. It was dark. The trees around me were bare with leaves skittering along the pavement of the road. The road was new, as were the dingy Chinese restaurant to its right and the laundromat on its left.

“It looks like a haunted house,” Gavriel murmured. “In fact, it looks like a death trap. The fact that it wasn’t bulldozed as the city expanded is a good sign. Something evil is definitely lurking there.”

I shot him a frown, then looked around at the mostly empty streets. One old woman was carrying a bag of groceries slowly towards the small apartment building next to the laundromat. “It’s too close to civilization. It was too close a hundred years ago when Tralcon realized that he really needed to expand.”

“All the blood rituals were far away from here.”

“Yes.”

He inhaled deeply, his broad chest expanding in a way that caught my eye. Not that everything about him wasn’t utterly mesmerizing. “This entire area is under a spell, subtle, evil, drawing strength and life from the surrounding people, feeding on them.”

“How vampiric.”

He shot me a smile and took my hand, squeezing it gently. “Not my vampire.”

I looked away, feeling uncomfortable and guilty, but I didn’t drop his hand until he released me on his own. I wanted to kiss him and tell him to be careful. I wanted to tell him that I loved him and that he’d always have my heart. But my heart was dead.

I swallowed and pushed towards the tall chain-link fencing that was wrapped around the yard with beware signs every three feet.

“You don’t want to go in there,” the old woman called, getting my attention. Her voice was creaky, but strong enough to carry across the street.

I stared at her, then following a hunch, hurried across the street, leaving Gavriel behind.

“Why do you say that?” I asked, trying to sound polite and friendly.

She studied me with a frown. “You’re a vampire. Why are you out in the sun?”

I looked up at the overcast sky. The daylight was so diffuse, I hadn’t even noticed it. “Why did you say that I shouldn’t go into that house?”

She shrugged uncomfortably and kept walking towards the apartment’s entrance. “Most people who go in there don’t come out, or if they do, they’re changed. Sick. Kids sometimes dare each other to go into the old cursed place. But a vampire would probably be right at home there.”

“I was turned there,” I said, for some reason feeling like I needed to tell her something.

She gave me a startled look. “You were turned in that house? Then you’re from around here? When were you turned? You’re stable, so it’s been a while.”

“A hundred and ten years. Yes, it’s been a while. There wasn’t anything else out here back then, just the woods and the dirt road that led from town.”

“So, why did you come back?”

I looked over at the house and shivered. “I’m here to destroy it.”

“You want to take over?”

I looked at her and smiled. “Finally someone who doesn’t trust a vampire just because she’s polite. But no, I never took any pleasure in the misery of others.” Ah. That’s what Gavriel meant about angels taking pleasure in so few things. “Can you tell me anything else about the house? Do you remember someone living there?”

“Sure. A young man I saw around town when I was a girl. He was still young when I was a young woman, and still young when I was old. But not a vampire. He disappeared ten years ago, at least stopped coming out during the day.”

Ten years ago? When I’d killed Tralcon? Was there any chance that the young man was David? My heart twisted painfully at the thought. I didn’t want to see him again. I absolutely didn’t. I’d rather face a resurrected Tralcon than the man I’d sold my soul to save, who had betrayed me so quickly. I’d spent a hundred years murdering for him. If I’d known that was the deal, I never would have made it.

“Are you all right? You’ve gone even paler,” the old woman croaked, peering at me.

I blinked a few times and offered her a smile. “Thank you. Be sure to lock your doors at night.”

She gave me a smile in return, showing her yellowed teeth. “Everyone in this neighborhood knows that well enough. You take care of yourself. At least you’re afraid. I’m more worried about that angel across the street. Angels think they can’t fall.” With that, she entered the apartment building’s bleak cement courtyard, leaving me to hurry back to Gavriel.