Vamps by Nancy A. Collins Read Free Book Online

before—or turn into a bat, or whatever that thing was.”
    â€œThat’s because up to now, you’ve only taken down undead,” Drummer explained. “Undead can’t shapeshift or control the weather. What we went up against tonight were true-borns. Old Bloods, most likely.” He frowned as he stared down at the dead girl. The vampiress looked disconcertingly young and pretty—no more than sixteen or seventeen. He scratched his head in confusion. “That’s funny; I could have sworn the blonde was wearing blue….”
    â€œYou mean like this?” Rémy asked, holding up the shredded remains of a peacock-blue silk dress.
    â€œWhere did you find that?” Drummer asked suspiciously.
    â€œIt was lying over there, right next to the fountain.” Before Rémy could turn to point out where he had found the ruined garment, he heard a deep, guttural growl that stopped him in his tracks.
    Suddenly a huge wolf with piercing blue eyes and no tail leaped out of the fountain basin in an explosive spray of cold water, knocking Rémy to the ground.
    â€œShoot her!” Drummer yelled, firing his crossbow at the fleeing creature. “She’s getting away!” His arrow fell short, bouncing harmlessly against the pavement as the monster wolf disappeared into the streets.
    â€œDamn it!” Drummer snapped, hurling the crossbow to the ground despite the excruciating pain in his shoulder. “The boss is going to lose it when he hears about this!”

CHAPTER 4
    C ally Monture shook her head in disgust as she hurried down the stairs to the subway. What was she thinking? She should have let the bimbo in the awful blue dress take the prey. But no, she let her pride get in the way, and now she was running for her life. Granny had warned her about letting her temper get the better of her in tight situations and, as always, had been proven right. Cally was relieved the old woman was no longer around to see how badly she had screwed up—but only a little, for she sorely missed her grandmother.
    Although she had been stalking the park off and on for several months, this was the first time she had run into real problems. She probably would have rethought her plans for the night if she’d known she would becrossing paths not only with Old Bloods, but Van Helsings as well.
    Given the Van Helsings’ reputation for zealotry and the Old Bloods’ tendency for vindictiveness, both were extremely dangerous foes. Cally was glad her grandmother had finally relented and taught her a couple of spells before she died. At least she could defend herself, to a certain extent. Still, she’d been extremely lucky that the Old Bloods were fledglings like herself. Had they been adults, she probably would have been killed, stormgatherer or not.
    As she strode toward the stairs leading to the platforms, she looked around for signs of pursuit. Since Van Helsings and vampires never liked to call attention to themselves in public places, she was probably safe as long as she made sure there were plenty of witnesses nearby.
    As she leaned out from the platform in hopes of spotting the next outbound, she noticed a hot guy in fashionably distressed skinny jeans and a denim jacket waiting for the train. He was buff, judging by the fit of his vintage T-shirt. He was pretending to read a paperback, but Cally could tell he was secretly checking her out.
    He was clean-shaven with a large, expressive mouth, dark brown eyes, and wavy, reddish-brown hair. Although he looked to be about eighteen or nineteen, he exudedthe kind of serious, mature vibe Cally usually associated with dudes in their twenties. Maybe he was just emo.
    When he glanced up from his reading yet again, Cally met his gaze. As their eyes locked, she felt a slight tingling inside her, not unlike the one she got as she called down lightning. For the briefest of heartbeats, it was as if the air between them crackled with energy.