Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) Read online

  “I’m not sure,” he confided looking genuinely confused. He sniffed the air trying to find any source that he could relate to those who had attacked the vampire. While he didn’t have a problem with someone willing to kill vampires that deserved it, the man did worry what could have done so and whether they would attack Marek’s coven; if they believed them typical of the blood suckers he normally had to kill.

  Nicola tested the air and sneezed. The blond shook her head in surprise. Trying a second time, the girl sneezed again and complained, “Can a vampire have allergies?”

  Laughing at the thought, but wondering what was in the air that could make a vampire sneeze; Nick noticed a strange hair on the ground. The smell as he picked it up, reminded him of that of a cat. Holding it out to Nicola, the vampire breathed it in and suddenly had a sneezing fit as she had to back away.

  “Well, if this is normal cat hair that might account for a normal person sneezing. Are you allergic to cats?” he questioned realizing that though unexpected the question made him realize that there were things he still didn’t know about this woman whom he had known for so long.

  Rubbing her nose trying to get the tingling out of her sinuses, Nicola shook her head. “I’ve had cats before and never noticed anything. Marek doesn’t love the things, but we’ve had several over the decades.” She smiled evilly before adding, “Audrey loves cats.”

  Audrey had replaced Nicola as Marek’s love interest, so such things amused the girl apparently, Nick thought of the statement. While it had been a mutual break up, since they made better friends after living with each other for only a couple years than lovers; the vampiress apparently considered Marek suffering through his second love’s preferences as a bit of a joke. Nick didn’t have the time for such a joke at the moment, however, as he tried to piece together what had happened tonight.

  “Well, my nose says that it smells like a cat even so. Maybe we’ve stumbled across a type of were-cat? If they’re natural enemies to vampires, they may have a scent designed to rub you the wrong way?”

  Wrinkling up her face in confusion a moment, Nicola shook her head as she thought about it. “I’ve never heard of any such thing, but if you’re right that three creatures smelling of cat went after the vampire; does that mean they only were after him or do they hate all vampires?”

  The last question was asked in worry. After losing four of their members in a turf war against superior numbers, the woman looked leery of having another fight on their hands.

  “Whatever they were, they took him out in a strange way. He didn’t combust from being struck by silver or having his heart spiked. The body didn’t turn into a pile of dust either. He still is holding onto his form, at least beyond the normal dead rogue we’ve seen.” His eyes lifted from the scene to the pretty blonde who was beginning to look uncomfortable with talk over dead vampires. “Don’t worry, you’re safe with me. With as much of my blood as you’ve been sneaking in between your regular doses, you may not even smell like a vampire to a werewolf.”

  She knew that he was trying to make her feel better and the naturally joyful woman tried to rebound as she replied, “I can’t help it that I love how you taste and it’s not just for your blood. There is something about your smell that just turns me on.”

  Giving him a smile, the vampire did her best to look unaffected by the dead vampire.

  The voran summoned a blade of light from his right hand to prod at the pile of dust finally breaking it down so that the air could whisk the remnants of the vampire away. He needed to hide the evidence as best he could or risk drawing even more attention to the creatures of the night. Cyrus’s hostile takeover had triggered worry among the police investigating the dozens of disappearances over such a very short time, so any new strangeness needed to be avoided.

  As the dust of the body began to clear away, the voran looked for any signs of the man’s identity; but no wallet could be found and his clothing was dust like the rest of the vampire. Standing up and releasing his aura blade, Nick shook his head at the girl. “Whatever he was up to, these other hunters left no trace of who he was. If he had a wallet, it’s as gone as the rest of him. I guess we’ll never know if he was a former Cyrus acolyte or a rogue, but we’d better get out of here before someone calls the police to check on the chaos caused up here.”

  Nodding as the girl turned with his hand in the small of her back gently caressing her, Nicola slipped her left arm around his back before leaning into him. Looking like any affectionate couple as they walked through the parking garage and found a stairway that would eventually lead to the street, the two confused hunters of monsters worked their way back towards the busier streets and the revelers enjoying the night.

  “Now can we go for a dance?” the vampiress asked wistfully as they walked along the sidewalk towards Rush Street.

  Three figures stood watching the west. Dressed in dark clothing that allowed good freedom of movement, each carried a mask in hand. In the design of a panther, tiger and striped cat, each mask was held tightly like a treasure needing to be guarded.

  “There was a second vampire back there,” the woman said shaking out her brown hair.

  “There was also another hunter between us and it,” the brown skinned man between the two stated as he placed his mask in a slim pack on his back. “Besides didn’t you read the strange scent on the second vampire? It didn’t smell of death the way the first did.”

  The last figure held a silver sword that he was wrapping with a thick brown cloth. “We were sent for Cyrus by Barong. Someone else managed to kill him for us, but his strays need to be cleansed before another arises to cause more trouble.”

  “Adding a sword to your collection of trophies, Alad?” the woman leaned forward to ask derisively.

  “We can’t leave it for police to find, now could we? A sword laced with silver would raise some suspicion with the locals, Lamassu,” the one known as Alad replied tying the cloth with a few black strings.

  Cutting the two off with a raised hand, the brown skinned leader ordered, “Enough you two. We’ll move to new hunting grounds to throw off the other hunter. If he was tracing the scent of the cat, the change should throw him off.”

  “He isn’t kasha,” Lamassu stated as the three walked across the street beginning to move north.

  “There are others who hunt the night predators,” the leader reminded the woman.

  Chapter 2- Puppy Love

  As the morning rays of the sun peeked through the window, Nick raised the plastic bag holding three strange hairs within examining them closely. Judging them to be either a light brown or a dark blonde in color, if they were from a human, he wondered if tan wouldn’t be more accurate if it came from some form of cat. While he didn’t believe it to be a real feline of natural origin, his nose told him that whatever he had chased was definitely from that family. The odd thing was the reaction from Nicola as she had sniffed the hairs last night.

  A vampire didn’t catch a cold or get sick from any normal human malady. Having allergies before they were turned, didn’t mean they would have them afterwards. They were dead to their old human frailties in truth. Even though his blood helped Nicola retain most of her humanity, it didn’t make her human, so in theory cat dander shouldn’t affect her in the least.

  Maybe the source was a new form of monster hunter that he didn’t know about. If they were as rare and secretive as his kind, there might be no information even as a legend or myth about them. His only hope was that somewhere along the line some human had witnessed a similar creature and recorded it for him to find. He hated being clueless as to what he faced and more importantly the man worried about his friends’ safety if these creatures were in the city to hunt vampires. Not every vampire was an out of control killer thirsting for blood at all times. Marek and his clan had been working with him for a century and there had been no slips for decades for example. They strove to be as much like humans as they could be.

  Placing the hair samples next
to him on the couch, Nick took his laptop from the coffee table sitting before him and put it on his lap opening it before starting his browser. He sat with it open a moment looking at the search engine debating on what to type. That was the problem any time that he needed to learn more about the supernatural creatures he dealt with in his life. Sifting through the fiction for the truth was often the hardest part of the story.

  Moving through one search after another, Nick remained distracted until he heard movement from the hallway.

  “Up as usual,” the woman’s voice stated with a yawn as she walked into view. Wearing just a long t-shirt, one that was his if he wasn’t mistaken, an attractive brunette with long legs and bared feet stretched looking perfectly comfortable with the man sitting there looking at her.

  Wandering into the kitchen area, she complained, “No coffee yet?”

  “Sorry, Charlotte, I wasn’t thinking about it,” he answered his houseguest. Having been with him for a couple months now, the voran was almost used to the casual interaction with the pretty woman after being a bachelor for so long. “You wouldn’t happen to have heard of some form of cat creature that would hunt vampires, would you?”

  Turning to look at him with a single raised brow of surprise, she questioned, “Did you have a strange night with Nicola last night or is this some new project that you’ve latched onto?”

  “Both,” he said with a smile. “We were on the trail of a vampire near Rush and Division when he began to run, but it wasn’t from us. I sensed three more... presences chasing the vampire. By the time I caught up to them, the vampire had been toasted, but not in the usual way that silver burns them.”

  Sniffing the air, Charlotte left the kitchen even as he heard the coffee maker hum as it heated the water for a new pot. She walked over to the couch sitting beside him before picking up the plastic bag with a frown. Her nose already wrinkled from the odor even with the bag sealed tight. “It definitely smells like a cat. Thanks for making a werewolf sniff that.” She finished making a face at the scent, but opened the bag before shaking her head and quickly closing it again. “Definitely some form of feline. Do you think there is some form of vampire hunting cat clan or something?”

  “A cat form of werewolf maybe, though they were able to hide their scent after the kill once they fled beyond my sight. No werewolf changes their smell and feel with a change, at least for my senses; but I only caught a blur of shapes in the distance before they ran from the vampire’s corpse and disappeared. If I didn’t mistake what I saw, however, I think they may have found a way to steal the vampire’s power before they ran.”

  “Stole his power how?” Charlotte questioned with her brown eyes curiously. Crossing her legs Indian style while keeping her hand holding the edge of the t-shirt to the couch between her legs for modesty as she turned to face him; the werewolf seemed to barely remember her more human reservations after five years with her former pack. She only tried to respect the man who had helped save her and her brother from that pack, though he had already seen her fully naked in the forest a couple months ago despite her modesty now.

  Trying to ignore the extra skin bared next to him, especially since he had Nicola to think of anyway; Nick stuck to looking at her face as he tried to describe what he thought that he had seen, “There was a short fight that the vampire lost, but I don’t think they killed him from a normal wound. If it had been a silver sword or a werewolf’s claws tearing out his heart, there is normally just a pile of dust remaining. They stood over him and seemed to pull his life essence out of him.”

  “That would be arguing that most vampires were alive,” she complained as her normal tendency for hating vampires reared its head. Blinking in surprise at her own words, Charlotte tried to clarify by adding, “I’m just saying they are killed to become a vampire in the first place. Nicola and the others are obviously alive in their own way.”

  He nodded not getting caught up in the words instead of their intent. The werewolves had worked alongside Marek, Nicola and the others to save the city from Cyrus only two months ago; but that didn’t mean their natural distrust of one another could just go completely away either. He had tried taking Charlotte and her brother Logan along on the town with Nicola to try and help bridge that gap several times. Nicola came over from time to time as well interacting with the werewolves helping to break down those walls.

  Changing the subject back to the original question, the dark haired woman asked in return, “Have you found anything that sounds like what you saw?”

  She gestured at his computer assuming that was what preoccupied him now.

  Looking at the laptop screen before him, he replied, “There aren’t a lot of myths that make sense for what I saw. Cats that speak, mounts for gods and such aren’t close. Werewolves, only a cat version, would make more sense; though only the kasha from Japanese lore even sounds remotely similar.”

  “Kasha?”

  “They were spirits that stole corpses or souls from evil dead that were sometimes seen in feline form.”

  Heavier footsteps from the hallway forewarned of her brother’s approach. Much larger than his sister, who was only a little shorter than Nick but slim and very feminine; Logan looked more like a Norse god and would tower over the voran side by side. Blond with blue eyes compared to his brunette and brown eyed sister, the brother was like light to her night in appearance. In personality, Charlotte was the sweet one, but Logan had once been on the path of a doctor so he was still caring though less personable. He had been told once by Charlotte that her brother used to be more like her, but that was before he had become cursed and a killer of his own family.

  “You have a cat now, Nick?” the werewolf paused at the entry to the room sniffing at the air like a dog or more accurately a wolf.

  The pair on the couch laughed briefly at the question even as Nick shook his head. “No, but there may be a cat equivalent to werewolves running around Chicago now.”

  Mirroring with his own shake of the head, Logan replied with a sigh, “Great, just what this city needs, more strange creatures that hate werewolves.”

  Charlotte interrupted the thought saying, “Not werewolves so far. They killed a vampire though.”

  Looking a bit worried, Nick clarified, “Not one of Marek’s. We were looking for strays last night when I discovered one, but it ran into these cat creatures first apparently. They escaped without a trace before I could find out what they are.”

  “That’s not like you to lose a trail,” the big man replied as he poured some cereal.

  “Don’t take all the milk,” Charlotte warned her older brother quickly.

  Making a face at his sister telling her that he wasn’t so stupid, though tempted to aggravate her by doing just that; Logan ignored her taking the cereal dry but taking the first cup of coffee from the maker. Charlotte quickly exited her spot, being less ladylike in her movement and flashing more than the voran expected as he averted his eyes quickly.

  Noting their host’s reaction to his sister, the big man frowned and scolded the young woman, “Maybe you should learn to put some pants on before coming out in the morning, Charlotte. Just because you ran with the pack, doesn’t mean that Nick needs to see all of you.”

  The woman stopped before him frowning. She hadn’t had her allotment of coffee yet, and he was seriously getting on her nerves almost instantly. Throwing up her hands indignantly, Charlotte reminded him, “It’s not like he hasn’t seen me naked. You’ve seen me naked. The pack’s seen me naked. It kind of comes with turning into a freaking werewolf once a month, Logan!”

  Turning on her heels to start down the hall, Charlotte pulled the shirt over her head revealing that underwear wasn’t her priority as she yelled angrily, “And I sleep in the nude, so I was being polite, you jerk!”

  After the girl stomped into Nick’s bedroom slamming the door in annoyance, Logan took a seat in one of the other chairs giving a plaintive look to their host. “I’m sorry, Nick,” he apologized with a sigh.r />
  Chuckling at his new friend’s discomfort, the voran informed him, “You shouldn’t have started in on her before her first cup of coffee. Charlotte may be one of the sweetest women I know, but not before breakfast.”

  “As if being a werewolf isn’t enough,” Logan sighed again looking pained from the statement. Being the one who had turned his sister, even if it was an accident and unpreventable; the big man always seemed weighed down by his curse even more than Charlotte. “Add being a woman with all that entails and a coffee addict to it besides.”

  The two men sat in silence for a moment before the werewolf asked, “Any idea of what you faced last night?”

  “Unfortunately I didn’t face them, which leaves more of a mystery. They were fast, as fast as the vampire. I didn’t catch up to them until the vampire stopped to fight back. He must have believed being a vampire meant he was stronger than whatever was chasing him. If he was, he wasn’t stronger than all three together.

  “All I found was the remains of a fight. There were cuts from a sword, I believe, and claws; which of them had what I don’t know. No weapons remained, just the damage and a few of these cat hairs.

  “Nicola actually seemed to have an allergic reaction to them. She sneezed anytime they were too close to her.”

  Looking surprised as much by the last fact as the rest, Logan questioned, “I didn’t think vampires had any allergies other than to silver and the sun.”

  Shrugging as he lifted his hands helplessly, Nick replied with a nod, “That’s what I thought too. In fact, Nicola says she’s owned cats and has never been allergic before.”

  “If we had access to a lab that wouldn’t ask questions, it would be helpful to find out what they came from, though I am afraid that science won’t have that answer. If it is a creature that hunts vampires, maybe their hair weakens their enemy by having allergic reactions. It would be a handy way of debilitating them to kill them if they can’t stop sneezing.