A Demon in Dallas Read online

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  www.total-e-bound.com

  A Demon in Dallas

  ISBN # 978-1-78184-324-6

  ©Copyright Amy Armstrong 2013

  Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright April 2013

  Edited by Stacey Birkel

  Total-E-Bound Publishing

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

  Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

  The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

  Published in 2013 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

  Warning:

  This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Total-e-burning and a sexometer of 1.

  This story contains 91 pages, additionally there is also a free excerpt at the end of the book containing 5 pages.

  Huntress Chronicles

  A DEMON IN DALLAS

  Amy Armstrong

  Book one in the Huntress Chronicles Series

  Two years ago, vampire hunter Raven walked out on the love of her life in order to save his, but now that she needs Connor’s help to locate a demon in Dallas, can she keep their encounter to business only, or is she about to fall for the sexy were-shifter all over again?

  When her partner Matt is kidnapped by vampires, it’s up to vampire huntress Raven to locate him. But during her rescue mission, she nearly succumbs to the wicked charms of an evil fairy and is blackmailed by a devious angel who wants her to locate a demon in Dallas. Raven’s superior in the hunters’ council gives her just seventy-two hours to find Matt before they send in a team of hunters whose mission statement is kill first, ask questions later. Raven’s going to need help, but the only person she can turn to is her ex-boyfriend Connor, a werewolf who Raven hasn’t been able to get out of her heart or head.

  Unwittingly thrown into a battle between good and evil, and with danger lurking around every corner, Raven must race against the clock to locate the demon and rescue Matt, while dealing with her feelings of guilt for walking out on Connor two years ago…even though she only did so to save his life…

  Dedication

  Inva, this one is dedicated to you—thanks for being a wonderful friend. To Stacey, my fabulous editor, thank you for everything you do for me, you’re a pleasure to work with. Thanks to Total-E-Bound for your constant professionalism and hard work—I’m so happy I decided to submit my first novel to your company. To Adriana, thank you for reading this and for all your helpful comments—as always, they were very much appreciated. You’re a star! To my readers, thank you for supporting me and offering me words of encouragement every day. I truly appreciate you all.

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  The New York Philharmonic: Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York

  The Exorcist: William Peter Blatty, Warner Brothers

  Edward Cullen: Stephenie Meyer

  Chapter One

  “I can’t see a freaking thing down here, it’s too dark,” Matt whined.

  Hands clenched into fists, I glared at him, my jaw tense. “If you don’t stop whining, I’ll leave you down here to find your own way out.”

  Matt shut up. The trip to Texas had been his idea, and only two days after arriving, he had me combing the sewers, knee deep in God only knows what. As we headed farther into the labyrinth of tunnels, my already sour mood worsened. Why had I agreed to this? I should have known better.

  After a few more minutes of walking on in the worst kind of uncomfortable silence, Matt mumbled, “I was sure he came this way.”

  He might have missed the glare I tossed in his direction, but I’d be surprised if he couldn’t feel my gaze burning a hole in the back of his head. I’d never have admitted it to Matt, but I was angrier at myself than I was with him. Yet again, I had let him talk me into one of his idiotic plans. Apparently, my stupidity knows no boundaries.

  It wasn’t as if we didn’t have enough work to keep us busy in Maine, and you didn’t melt in Maine when you stepped out into the midday sun. That was always a bonus. But no, the idea of a nest of vampires that were getting too big for their cowboy boots had seduced me. It was always the damn vampires that did it. I felt drawn to them like a wolf to the moon—which made sense in its own perverse way. I was a hunter, after all. The need to exterminate the vermin was in my blood, embedded in my DNA.

  Matt stayed by my side as we traversed the intricate network of tunnels. He didn’t have the sense of direction that I had been born with, so we had to stick together. If we split up, Matt would be sure to get lost and the last thing I wanted was to have to spend more time in the damn sewer than I needed to.

  Placing a hand around my upper arm, Matt pulled me to a stop. He was about my height, if marginally broader, so when I turned we were standing face to face and close enough that I could see his remorseful expression. He let out a long sigh.

  “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. You were right. We should have stayed in Maine.”

  His repentant tone dispelled most of the anger I had been holding onto. There was a reason I hadn’t wanted to come back to Austin, but Matt didn’t know about that. As far as he was aware, I’d walked out on that part of my life two years ago and I hadn’t looked back. I was good at hiding my feelings, even from Matt, who had become like a brother to me over the ten years we’d been hunting together. Or maybe I was just a damn good liar—too good.

  I shrugged. “Don’t sweat it. I’m a big girl. I agreed to come along. Now that we’re here, let’s kill us some vamps, yeah?”

  A goofy grin was his only reply. When we turned a corner, the dimly lit, narrow passageway opened up into a cavernous room. The stark brick walls held small fitted lights, but they let off hardly any illumination. Our prey was standing in the back, casually leaning against the wall when we entered. His eyes glowed yellow in the small beam of moonlight that filtered down from an overhead grating. Even from ten feet away I could smell the stench of death and decay on his breath. The room was just bright enough to see the vampire’s wide, toothy grin.

  “Well, it’s about time y’all showed up,” he said with a lazy Texan twang. “I ain’t got all night, ya know.”

  I took a few steps farther into the room to get a better look at the creature. He was wearing pale blue, flared denims and a floral shirt. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in the seventies—in fact, he probably hadn’t taken them off since the seventies. That would certainly explain some of the stink. But the strangest thing about him was his relaxed stance and calm demeanour. Most vampires feared hunters on sight. Reaching into my jacket, I pulled out my favourite silver-tipped stake.

  “Oh, I’d put that away if I were you.” He swaggered towards us and the stench increased, clogging up the already stale air until it was all I could smell. Some days, I really hated my damn job.

  I shrugged. “Sorry, no can do.”
r />   “Someone could get hurt,” he mused.

  “Not someone,” I corrected. “Something.” It was damn near impossible to think of a vampire as human when their humanity had departed along with their soul. ‘Mindless, emotionless killers’ was the only term that fitted.

  His grin broadened. “Details,” he drawled, with a swish of his hand.

  As we stared at each other silently, my mind went into overdrive. There was something off about this whole situation. His relaxed manner made me jittery. Vampires were undoubtedly the most conceited of the supernatural species, but he would have known we were hunters. So he was either stupid enough to think he could take us or he had a death wish. Of course, there could always be a third alternative—he wasn’t down in the sewer alone and that fact was giving him false confidence.

  “Matt, pick up the slack,” I instructed.

  My eyes never wavered from the soulless creature in front of me. In the ten years we’d worked together, Matt and I had come to understand one another pretty well so I didn’t need to elaborate. In my peripheral vision, I saw him nod then walk back down the tunnel we’d just come through.

  “Well, well. Not as stupid as you look.” As the creature neared, his haughty smirk exposed yellow, razor-sharp fangs.

  I was about to respond with something equally banal when a fight broke out in the tunnel behind me. The harrowing sounds of fists hitting flesh and snapping bones reached my ears along with Matt’s shouts of rage as he fought what sounded like four or five vampires at once.

  “Raven! Raven, help me!” Matt shouted.

  Damn. I thought about dealing with the creature in front of me first, but then a sound rang out that made my stomach lurch violently and all the air whooshed out of my lungs. Matt screamed—quite literally screamed. The chilling sound echoed off the damp sewer walls, reverberating through my body like it was a physical entity that had taken me by the arms and shaken the living daylights out of me. It was excruciating to listen to.

  I was about to charge to Matt’s rescue when the vampire lunged, catching me off guard. I dived out of the way, narrowly missing his teeth, but his clawed hand slashed across my chest, slicing deep. It hurt, badly, but I took a deep breath and pushed the pain out of my mind. I needed to focus on the fight. The sickly sweet, metallic odour of blood reached my nostrils and from the hungry look in the vamp’s eyes, he’d scented it too.

  “There’s no escape,” he said in a pedestrian tone that annoyed the crap out of me. The vampire was too sure of himself, too arrogant by far—totally misguided.

  The second time he came at me, I was ready for him. His sharp teeth and rancid breath were inches away from my face when I plunged the stake into his chest, hitting the dead centre of his heart. His eyebrows drew together as he looked down and let out an ear-piercing wail before crumpling to the ground at my feet, dead. Unlike his first death, there would be no coming back from this one.

  I pulled out my stake right before the vampire’s body began to degrade—aging before my eyes, wrinkling and drying out like a grape on a vine left to wither under the sun’s harsh rays. In a few minutes there would be nothing left to mark his time on earth but a pile of dense ashes. Without sparing another thought for the soulless creature, I raced back down the tunnel to get to Matt, but I was too late. The vampire’s friends had already left and Matt was missing too. What the hell? I leant back against the damp wall and tried to catch my breath. I had to find him before it was too late.

  Chapter Two

  Racing through the tunnels, I took the path back to the entrance Matt and I had used, but there was no sign of him or any of the other vampires. They must have taken Matt with them. But why? It didn’t make a lick of sense.

  The vampires had no reason to kidnap Matt. They usually drank a person dry before killing them, but they couldn’t have done that either. They hadn’t had enough time to drain Matt completely, and if they’d killed him, they would have left his body behind. No sense taking it with them. Matt was no use to them dead, although I couldn’t figure out what use he could be to them alive either. I hoped above all else that they hadn’t decided to turn him. To hunters like Matt and I, that was a fate far worse than death itself. When I died, if there was a heaven, I wanted in. There were way too many people on the other side that would just love to get their grubby paws on me for putting them in their eternal resting place, and wouldn’t that just suck?

  The deep cut on my chest began to burn intensely, making me feel like a head of cattle branded by a hot iron. Until it healed fully and I was back to fighting form, I was in no condition to help Matt. I couldn’t even help myself if any more bloodsuckers attacked, so I reluctantly made my way out of the sewers and back to the motel, sticking to the busy streets even though my bedraggled and bloody state captured more attention than I cared for.

  I knew several people in Austin, but there was only one that had the connections to help me find Matt—Connor Ward. Although I could count on him to help, calling him wouldn’t be fair—to either of us. Connor was the reason I hadn’t wanted to return to Texas when Matt had suggested it, and, if I was being honest, he was also the reason I had finally agreed to tag along.

  It had been two years since I’d last seen Connor, and even though I’d been the one to walk away, not a single day had gone by in which I hadn’t thought about him. I often wondered if he thought about me too. Did he miss me? Would he be happy to see me again or had he moved on? Those questions had been my constant companions since the night I’d said goodbye for what I’d truly believed to be the last time.

  Of course, a hundred new questions entered my mind while I took a shower and cleaned the blood and grime from my skin. Had Connor stopped loving me? Had he found someone else? Was he happy? All I’d ever wanted was Connor’s happiness, but the thought of him being content with another woman, of him taking pleasure from another lover’s body, made my chest constrict so tightly it felt like it was caught in a damn vice. I could hardly breathe through the pain and despair that the unwelcome thoughts produced. As always, the agony quickly turned to ire. I’d rather have been back in the sewers, fighting an entire nest of vampires, than alone in my tiny motel room with nothing but these damned perfidious thoughts to occupy my time.

  After patching up the angry-looking cuts on my chest, I slipped on my dressing gown then took a few calming breaths before dialling the number I’d learned by heart almost four years ago to the day. Had it really been that long since the night we’d first met? I closed my eyes when the call connected and held my breath as I waited to hear his voice.

  “Hello.”

  “Connor, it’s me.” Silence met my greeting—complete and utter, agonising silence. As the seconds ticked on, I sucked in another big lungful of air, my stomach feeling like it was trying to eat itself from the inside out. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

  “This is obviously not a social call,” Connor retorted. His sarcasm rankled, but I hadn’t expected anything different. At least he hadn’t hung up on me—that had to count for something. And hearing his voice again, even laced with acerbity, was like listening to the New York Philharmonic play the Bach Variations—beautiful and utterly mesmerising.

  “No,” I said around a sigh. “This isn’t a social call.”

  “What can I do for you, Raven?”

  “I need help.” I hated having to ask, but I had to remember the reason for my call. This was about finding Matt, nothing more. What had happened between us was in the past and it had to stay there—my sanity depended on it.

  Connor sighed. “I take it you’re in my neck of the woods.”

  “Yes.”

  “Meet me at Ivy’s in thirty minutes.”

  When Connor hung up, the silence that radiated out of my cellphone was oppressive. I kept it to my ear for longer than was necessary, remembering the cadence of his voice. The deep, sexy twang of the man who had once told me he’d love me forever and had undoubtedly meant it. Did it still stand? With a heavy hear
t, I checked the time then slipped into a pair of skinny black jeans and a loose fitting shirt. I was tired, both physically and emotionally, but I wouldn’t be able to rest until I’d met with Connor and figured out who had taken Matt and why. Then I was going to do everything in my power to get him back. It was nothing more than he would do for me. Besides, I owed him. It was my fault he’d been taken. I should have made him stay by my side.

  Every minute Matt spent with the vampires put his life at greater risk. Vampires were vile creatures, with no conscience or remorse. They didn’t need a reason to kill and the fact that Matt was a hunter would only sweeten the slaughter. I was counting on Connor to help me, even though I’d ripped out his heart then stomped on it for good measure almost two years ago to the day.

  Connor was a wolf-shifter and a member of the local pack, so he knew a lot of supernaturals who had made their home in Austin. We’d managed to keep our relationship a secret for nearly two years because the repercussions of anyone finding out would have been severe. Had they known, my superiors on the watchers’ council would have exacted their wrath as it was strictly against the rules for hunters to have personal relationships with anyone other than our own kind. The bloodlines needed to be pure. It was the only way to ensure the continuation of our race. My parents had been hunters and had fought valiantly until the day they had died, as had their parents before them. We age much slower than humans and can live for nearly five hundred years if we take care of ourselves, but at thirty, I was reaching my sexual maturity. That meant I had to find a mate.

  Neal, my superior on the watchers’ council, had been trying to get me and Matt together since we were both twenty. I loved Matt, I really did, but I wasn’t in love with him and I never would be. Our relationship would never be anything more than platonic. Matt felt the same. I’d tried to tell Neal that, but he continued to push for our union. Neal would have been furious if he’d found out that I was seeing Connor, but it was Darius, Connor’s alpha, that I’d been most fearful of finding out, and with good reason.