Author: catstark

From The Grey House:

Vincent watched as she ran to the edge of the roof, looked over the edge and ran a little to the left. She was right above the entrance. Natalia was over the edge before his men even ran out to the roof. Rebecca, in wolf form, reached the edge first. She sniffed the area and turned back as Anthony reached the edge. Joseph, he knew, would have gone for the street. Vincent pulled the window shut and latched it. Turning from the window, he pulled out his cell and called Mierka, who was waiting downstairs by the door.

“Don’t let anyone follow too closely; I want everyone back here in five minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

From The Grey House:

Once on the street Natalia led Anthony halfway down the block. There was a line of people waiting by the door of The Red Thread, and she did not want an audience. Once out of sight, she stopped and turned to her prisoner.

“Anthony?”

“…yes…”

“You’re going to forget all about me. The next time I see you, you’ll think it’s the first time we’ve met. Thanks for all the information. In 30 seconds, you’ll wake up feeling very happy.” She kissed him on the cheek, said a word in Romanian, and walked into the alley behind them. As she turned back, Anthony snapped out of the hypnosis and looked around. A few seconds later he was joined by a second man. Natalia had seen him talking to Vincent and figured him for another of his trusted men.

From The Grey House:

Natalia was against any grand-scale plan that would eventually involve the local government. When confronted with reality, humans tended to lose their minds, but Zechariah seemed to want that. He thought it might bring about the end of all Hellspawn. Natalia knew all it would do was kill humans. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She was back at the restaurant. She didn’t want Richard seeing her anxious face. Then she realized that the main lights were off. Only the lights on the deck were lit. She had the place to herself. She heaved a sigh of relief as she ran up the steps.

At the top of the steps, Natalia stopped dead. She was not alone, as she had thought. Sitting at her table with all her things laid out was the vampire who flitted through her dreams. He was sitting with one foot resting on the other knee, elbows on the armrests, hands tented in front of his face.

From The Grey House:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Natalia started off sitting on the edge of the couch, waiting expectantly for an answer. As the hour passed, she slowly leaned back further and further, disappointment seeping into her very being. If the answers were in the book, she would have found them the first time she read the Bible.

At the end of an hour, Natalia sat up and cleared her throat loudly. “Look, Lucas. If this is all you want to discuss, I’m going to go. I’ve heard this all before. The answers aren’t there.”

From The Grey House:

“About two months after you bit me, I went on a road trip to find Donald, my mother’s killer. I was determined to find him and kill him. I found the route he used to take and drove it up and down, stopping at truck stops and restaurants; anywhere a trucker would stop. Along the way I met a Slayer. He told me about a training camp in North Dakota that was run by militants. Most of them didn’t know about Hellspawn, but as long as I was willing to do as they said, I could be trained on any number of weapons. All I had to do was mention the Slayer’s name and I’d be in. He gave me the information, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. I kept looking for Donald…. It was a human that convinced me to get training.”

From The Grey House:

Natalia sat on the plastic milk crate, which had conveniently been left in the entryway of the apartment building. Upon arrival, she tried the door; it was unlocked. She went upstairs to explore and found various bits of nothing: broken furniture, rats, dust, drug paraphernalia, lots of used condoms and left-over food. There were also a couple tattered bits of paper, which turned out to be condemned signs. Unsure if anyone was here, she staggered around, acting hurt and confused. She even managed to call out in a strangled voice.

As she explored, Natalia thought of the story she was going to tell Zechariah. Her face was colored with bruises and there was blood on her shirt from where Vincent fed off her, but she didn’t know if it would be enough to convince the Slayer. She stood looking at herself in a dirty, half broken full-length mirror and knew her clothing didn’t look convincing.

From The Grey House:

He shook his head. “Not just from the libraries. They told me about you. You’re the one walking the edge.”

She stopped twirling the necklace and her mind began to race. “Walking the what?”

“You came to the right place. I can show you what you need to know. Then you’ll make the right decision.” He indicated the couch. “Will you stay and talk?”

He sounded normal again, and the desire to talk to someone about what she suspected was too tempting. Natalia took a seat at the end of the couch closest to the door. Lucas left the room and came back carrying an old book. Its leather binding looked frayed, showing years of use. He sat in the recliner, turned toward her, opened the book and started reading.

From The Grey House:

Vincent normally let his accountant take care of the paperwork, therefore when he arrived unannounced, Richard nearly fainted. Vincent was in the neighborhood and had nothing better to do then to pester his manager. Vincent enjoyed throwing Richard off balance. The surprise inspections kept Richard and the rest of the staff on their toes. The Ocean’s Edge was a five-star restaurant; Vincent expected it to stay that way, which was one of the reasons he was here at midnight on a Monday. It was early for Vincent, late for Richard.

“Is there a problem, sir?” Even his voice was fidgety.

“Richard, you’ve worked for me for five years. Have there ever been any serious problems?”

“Well, no, not that I’m aware of.”

From The Grey House:

Charlie took his food and handed hers over. The cook had cut her burger as ordered, which made it easier for Natalia to handle the food with one hand. They ate in silence, exchanging glances, but not wanting to say too much. Charlie finished her leftovers, as he used to when they were dating. Natalia leaned back in her seat, sipping on her chocolate shake. It was thick and rich, just the way she liked it. Once finished with the food, Charlie took the containers and bags out to the trash. After making sure she didn’t need to use the restroom, he started the van and left the parking lot for the highway. It was fifteen minutes before either of them spoke.

“What happened to you anyway? How’d you end up with the Slayers?”

From The Grey House:

Tonight, there was double the number expected. Vincent made his plans based on the smaller number but had no choice except to proceed. Most of the new people arrived two hours before Vincent and his men. There was no time to call for backup. Vincent knew what his people were capable of and stayed the course.

Rebecca gave the signal and the three werewolves advanced. With them were three vampires: Vincent, Joseph, who was standing by his master, and Mierka, who was somewhere in the woods, finding an alternate way into the house. As the werewolves advanced up the long driveway, they changed into wolf form and merged with the woods. They were quieter as wolves, and less conspicuous. Vincent and Joseph, after checking to make sure that the wolves were doing well, ran up the drive. The werewolves were there for stealth; the vampires were there for speed and strength.