Eternal Night

(I) Chapter 32: More Than She Could Chew

Jack and Louise had long since disappeared in the old subway tunnels beneath the city before Frankie had turned the corner in pursuit of the unidentified assassin. Clicking a button on her phone, she brought it to her ear, relieved when a familiar voice picked up after a ring and a half.

"I got your text, there's no need to..." Lyra's voice began on the other end, but she was interrupted.

"Lyra, I need you right now!" Frankie shouted into the phone. "Someone just tried to assassinate Jack and Louise and I'm chasing him. I need you to lock onto the coordinates of my phone."

"Wait... who did what now?"

Frankie froze in her tracks as another shot rang out from up above her on the roof of one of the buildings and the bullet buried itself in the ancient brick of a wall not three inches from her head. She whirled around to see three more men dressed similarly to the one she was chasing standing on the adjacent roof, the moon glowing behind them. When one jumped from the top of those ten-stories and landed perfectly on his feet a few yards from her, she swallowed hard.

"Lyra... get your ass here now, or I'm fucked."

Frankie's choice of words and the tone of her voice was all Lyra needed to hear before the line went dead.

Frankie had made a slow movement to put her phone back in her pocket and high-tail it out of there when she backed into something tall and solid – another assassin. She was soon surrounded by seven large and ominous looking men who were now closing in around her, and that wasn't even the worse part – they weren't just ordinary vampires.

From the look of their similar garb, and the skulls stitched into their leathers, these were highly-trained mercenaries of an organization known only as aducător de moarte – the bringers of death. There had been reports that the gang had recently been bought out by one of the council members – Krisztian Sokolov – but those rumors had never been confirmed. Not that Frankie particularly cared who had employed them. With Jack and Louise hopefully now out of harm's way, in that moment, the only thing that concerned her was getting out of this situation in one piece.

"Is this the woman?" one of the men asked another in thick Romanian.

"No. The French broad and her brother got away," a voice answered from behind. Frankie turned and realized it was the one she had been chasing earlier.

"He won't be pleased to hear that."

"Perhaps we could take her as consolation? She may not be a dragon, but she must have something useful we could extract."

One reached forward to grab her arm but she tugged violently to free herself.

"Keep your filthy paws to yourself!" she snapped, barring her fangs.

"Ooh! She's fiesty!" he proclaimed as the others laughed. "There's no need to get agitated," he crooned. "If you cooperate, it'll be less painful for you."

He leaned towards her and the stench of his breath nearly knocked Frankie off her feet.

He reeked of blood... old blood.

Raking her thumbnail over her palm discreetly, she broke the skin and felt that familiar sticky liquid leaking from the self-inflicted wound. She made a quick move to slap the man when he snatched her hand and squeezed her wrist violently, baring his own fangs. A slew of abrasive Romanian tumbled from his lips as he eyed the flowing blood on her palm.

"A free snack? You're too kind," he purred, and he brought the bleeding wound to his mouth.

Frankie closed her eyes in disgust as she felt the man's thick tongue press and then slide up the length of her palm before his fangs tore into her wrist and he began to suck. The moment he got a single gulp down, she could see the flesh of his lips starting to pop and sizzle – and then there was a scream.