The Living Night (Book 1) by Jack Conner Read Free Book Online Page A

same. They
each retrieved another gun and merged back-to-back. They watched the twenty
sled-dogs—wolves, really—bite through their harnesses and assemble around the
vampires in a bristling circle. The creatures were no longer operating under
their own wills—rather, they had to be under the mind control of someone else.
Two Jamaican assassins, most likely.
    The wolves leapt.
    Danielle fired. She blew apart the head of one
wolf, then another, shooting into their trunks and throats, too, not taking
time to aim. They swarmed her, biting, biting, their bodies heavy and rough.
Beside her, Ruegger fired, too, sometimes clubbing the beasts over the head
with his pistols. Bone broke loudly.
    When her guns clicked empty, Danielle started to
go for another pistol, but there was no time. The wolves were all over her, ripping
and tearing. She bit back, elongating her fangs, and used her vampire strength
to hurl furry bodies against trees, where they broke open in red showers.
    Ruegger flung his spent guns away and went to
work with a blade, but it got stuck in the ribcage of the first wolf he stuck
it in. Danielle heard him swear.
    The wolves forced the vampires to the ground.
    Danielle fought on with her fingers, teeth and
feet. A scrawny dark-haired thing burst at her, a knife (Ruegger's) stuck
through its chest, but still it tore at her. Danielle grabbed it by the mouth,
ignoring the pain, and ripped out its throat with her fangs. Several other
wolves gnawed at her legs and chest.
    Their bites were calculated, teeth locating her
arteries. She could feel herself growing weak and knew that much of the blood
that stained the snow around her was her own. It wouldn't be long before she
was dead.
    At last all the wolves lay in bloody chunks on
the ground, their blood soaking the snow in bright crimson, and in the middle
of it sprawled Ruegger and Danielle, their clothes and flesh torn. Too weak to
move much, they reached out their arms and held hands.
    Footsteps approached, and the vampires propped
themselves up against each other to face whatever was coming.
    The Balaklava
stepped forward slowly, letting themselves be examined. They seemed to enjoy
the attention. They were very tall, their skin nearly sheer ebony. Both of them
were completely naked.
    "Good to see you," one said, boasting
a thick Jamaican accent. "I'm Junger." Bald from head to toe, his
flesh was so covered by twisting, intricate tattoos that his actual skin was
hard to see. Very small thin bones that were likely supposed to resemble tusks
stuck out of his skin in twin arcs along his cheeks. Dear God , Danielle thought. Are
those ... ?
    The bones looked very much like the ribs of an
infant human.
    I’m going to be sick , Danielle thought.
    "I'm Jagoda," the other said, his
accent equally as thick. He wore expensive sunglasses and his face, framed by
long dreadlocks, was masked by a heavy, unkempt beard. A gold ring gleamed at
his lip, one through his nose, and several accentuated his right ear. "Sorry
about your clothes."
    "Grant me a last smoke?" Ruegger said.
“I’m afraid your wolves tore all mine to pieces.”
    Junger laughed. "We're almost out as it
is."
    "Then could you please find our radio and
bring it over. I'd hate to die to silence."
    Danielle knew what he was doing—separate them,
for all the good that could do.
    "Well, mon, Bob Marley does go well with
rape," Junger told his partner, and marched off to find the sled and the
radio.
    "Why kill us?" Danielle asked Jagoda. Did he just say what I think he did?
    "We're not going to kill you,” Jagoda said.
“We could have—there was a certain party that wanted us to, and would have paid
well for it—but we’ve chosen another route. Ultimately, this line of action
will be the most rewarding."
    "What do you mean?” Ruegger said.
    "This is only our first visit to you. Before
we can see you again, though, we've got a grand opening to attend in Europe at the Castle."
    "You're working for Roche Sarnova?"
    "We