She couldn’t let that pass.
It was her mission to free Barcelona of their clutches.
Her heart ached as she thought about her older brother, Guillem. How many innocents in her city had fallen victim of these fiends, murdered or worse—turned as Guillem had been and left to face an eternity of suffering?
Rage burned in her veins, as fierce as the day it had ignited nine years ago when her brother had been turned, and condensed into a fire as eternal as her brother’s suffering. She readied herself, harnessing that anger as she tracked the vampires up the sloping alley to the right of the cathedral, a path many tourists took.
She wouldn’t let these two vampires hurt any of them.
Their reign of terror ended tonight.
She slipped her hand beneath the back of her black leather jacket and stroked the hilt of the short blade strapped to her back. The feel of it comforted her as she followed the men deeper into the warren of alleyways that branched off from the Carrer del Bisbe.
The streets grew darker, the lamps mounted on the walls of the old sandstone buildings spaced further apart as she left the more popular part of the quarter behind. She paused at a junction, flattening her back against the wall as she listened. Male voices carried along the street. More than two of them.
She peeked around the corner, a quick glance before she darted into cover again. There were four of them now, loitering outside one of the gothic buildings. She risked another peek and frowned. They were gone. She peered into the darkness at the other end of the alley and then looked both ways along the street where she stood. They couldn’t have disappeared. They must have gone into the building at her back.
Caterina emerged from her hiding spot and studied the building. The lower windows were barred to protect them. She moved a few feet along the alley. An arched entrance stood where the vampires had been, the dark wooden door sealed shut. She doubled back and did a lap of the building, trying to spot another exit. None that she could tell belonged to the building where the vampires were hiding.
One exit and barred windows didn’t bode well for her.
She cursed low.
Her stomach churned but she pressed her hand to it and breathed through the nerves as she walked back towards the front of the building. She wouldn’t let it stop her. She couldn’t.
One of the vampires inside the nest might be her brother’s sire. Killing that vampire would free Guillem, she was sure of it. Her chest throbbed as she thought about him, about how pale and gaunt he was now, a shadow of the man she had once known. All because of a vampire.
She would free him of his curse, before it consumed him.
That need, that desire, kept her strong as she readied herself. Killing the vampire who had sired Guillem had to be the answer. She was sure of it. Everything else she had tried had done nothing to help him. This was her last hope. Their last hope. If she had to slay every vampire on the planet to save her brother, she would do it.
If she had to give her life for this cause, she wouldn’t hesitate. Her brother meant everything to her, and he deserved to live again, without the sickness that plagued him.
Caterina pushed her leather jacket off her left shoulder and drew her blade from beneath it. She sucked down a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do. Vampires had sharp senses, which meant she needed the element of surprise, and the only way to get that was to disarm them with the scent of blood. It was dangerous when she wasn’t sure how many vampires were inside the building, but it was far less dangerous than just breaking in and attacking them. She might be able to cut down a few of them before they realised what was happening.
She drew the edge of the blade across her upper arm and hissed through her teeth as fire blazed in its wake. The scent of her blood was swift to permeate the humid air, turning her stomach as she sheathed her sword. She rubbed her arm, encouraging it to bleed, and pulled her jacket back up. Not wearing it so the vampires could get a good look at her wound would be better, but she couldn’t risk them seeing her weapon. She had to keep it hidden until she was ready to strike.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out. A message from Guillem. She opened it and stared at his picture, at the man he used to be, and tears filled her eyes, hot and stinging. She fired back a reply, telling him that she would be home soon, and continued to stare at his photograph, using the anger and pain the sight of it stirred to bring more tears.
Tears she intended to use against the bastard vampires.
This was going to be the performance of her life.
They wouldn’t know it was all an act until it was too late for them.
She clutched her left arm and sniffled as she shuffled towards the arched entrance, keeping her head bent and bumping against the wall from time to time, in case they were aware of her. The weaker she looked, the better this would go for her. The vampires wouldn’t think she was a threat if she looked close to passing out from blood loss and fear.
More tears came as her phone vibrated, no doubt with a reply from Guillem. He was weakening more each day now, running out of time.
She frantically banged on the wooden door, letting her desperate need to save Guillem get the better of her and colour her actions. The voices on the other side grew hushed and she waited, heart hammering in her throat as adrenaline surged, anticipation pushing her right to the edge. She breathed through it, calming her nerves and focusing on her act. She had to make it convincing.
She banged again. “Help me. Please. I heard voices in there. Please, help me!”
Footsteps echoed on the other side of the door and she tensed as it creaked open, revealing a handsome fair-haired man. He frowned at her, his eyebrows pinching hard above his dark eyes, and looked her over.
“What do you want?” he said in her tongue, his accent telling her that he was Catalan like she was.
A local.
How many other citizens of her city were vampires? They multiplied so fast she struggled to keep up with them. For every one she killed, another two were made.
“Please.” She leaned towards him and peeled her right hand away from her arm, her brow furrowing as she revealed it to him. His nostrils flared, and crimson ringed his irises. She pretended not to notice his reaction, swayed a little and pressed the back of her hand to her forehead as she slurred, “I was attacked. A man… I think he’s still after me. I heard voices and thought you could help me. Please, help me. I’m afraid he’s going to find me.”
The vampire’s dark gaze drifted down to her arm as she wrapped her hand back around it, squeezing the wound beneath her leather jacket to tease more blood from it. That fiery corona rimmed his irises again, brighter this time as he stared, seemingly transfixed.
Completely under her spell.
“What’s going on?” Another male voice came from behind him, tugging him out of his reverie, and he looked over his wide shoulders at his comrades.
She peered past him while he was distracted, quickly scanning the elegant courtyard and the arches that surrounded it on the ground floor where the building was set back a few feet on all sides, forming a covered walkway. The trio of vampires standing there eyed her, a flicker of hunger in their gazes as they took her in.
The blond nudged the dark-haired man and slid him a look, one that sent a shiver of disgust rolling down her spine. He thought her easy prey. He was going to find out how wrong he was about that soon enough.