Sterling Silver (Sterling Hunter Series Book 1)

Chapter 10

Tabitha unlocked her trunk and popped it open, glancing around at all the run down and graffiti-filled houses. She didn't much like these kinds of places and she doubted that high-end vampires would either. As if reading her mind–which he probably was–Sebastian leaned against the open trunk and grinned. "You'd be surprised at how many high-end vampires come around these parts. They may enjoy the best in life but they also enjoy blood and these kinds of places are full of it."

She wrinkled her nose and unzipped her huge black duffel bag, exposing an array of vampire slaying weapons. 

Sebastian leaned forward and frowned, a look of disgust evident on his face. "Ew, I didn't realize how many weapons you had."

Tabitha grinned and pulled out her belt of stakes, buckling it around her waist. She grabbed two arm braces with stakes on both and strapped those to her wrists, rolling her leather jacket's sleeves and shirt sleeves over them. Ignoring Sebastian's disapproving looks, she set one foot and then the other on the car, strapping a stake on both leg and then strapped a large black sash around her shoulder that ended at her hip full of rowan grenades that could burn and sting vampires.

Shutting the trunk, she locked her car and pulled on her yellow gloves, glancing at Sebastian who watched her with intense eyes. She scowled at him. "You're the leader. Where do we start?"

That seemed to shake him from some kind of trance and he nodded, gesturing out of the parking lot and down a rundown street. "This way. Follow me."

They fell into silence as they walked through the darkness and down the streets lined with houses and abandoned buildings. Some were boarded up and others still had lights on inside, peaking out through the shaded windows. Tabitha was grateful she lived outside of the city in a small town and in a nice, comfortable home. Her mom worked as a lab technician at the local hospital and sometimes got transferred to the city hospital to help out.

Halfway down the street, Sebastian grabbed her arm, and jerked her to a stop. Tabitha opened her mouth but he held a finger to his lips,  shushing her. Tabitha bit her lip, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Either from Sebastian's close proximity or another vampire nearby. From Sebastian's statue-still posture she had a feeling it was from another vampire.

He leaned forward, dipping his head down to her level and whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her ear. "I can smell blood. Someone's feeding to the right. Follow me and when we see him, I'll let you take him down yourself. If you can."

Tabitha scowled and jerked free of his grip, striding around the corner. Of course she could take him down. She took a stake from her belt and gripped it in her hand, adrenaline surging through her veins, her senses abuzz with a vampire so close by. Tabitha slowly turned another corner and then ducked back and would have plowed into Sebastian if he didn't have such quick reflexes. He stepped back just in time and Tabitha pressed her back against the wall. She peeked around the side of the boarded-up building's wall and saw a horrifying picture. A male vampire gripping a man's shoulders. He had his fangs in the man's neck and his eyes closed, moans of pleasure escaping his mouth along with dribbles of blood.

Sebastian nudged her and Tabitha shot him a scowl. She could handle this. Tabitha had done this sort of thing for three years. She could do it again tonight. Though... she'd only ever gone hunting in the back alleys and in the more evident places. Now that she thought about it made sense she would find the sloppier, easier to prey on vampires in those places. She never would have thought to look in a residential area full of people and prying eyes. Though vampires could wipe people's memories and make them see what they wanted with just a thought.

Taking a deep, grounding breath, Tabitha stepped out from behind the corner and stayed close to the shadows, edging toward the feeding vampire with quiet, calculated steps. Her instincts roared to plunge the stake in his chest, her fingers itching for action and this time Tabitha didn't resist. She gave into the hunt and the need to kill and let it take her over.