Free Nancy A Collins-Vamps 02 by Night Life Page B

with blood.
    Cally walked out past the line waiting to get into the Viral Room, thinking about how Jules’s kiss made her feel. Part of her wanted to turn around and go back into the club in search of him, but if she did that, then she would be just like her mother—and that was something 86

    Cally had sworn she’d never let happen.
    Jules was clearly big trouble: a ladies’ man she couldn’t trust, not to mention the future husband of her biggest enemy. Lilith had already attempted to kill her once before, simply because she’d seen him kiss her hand .
    Still, as clearly wrong for her as he was, Cally had to admit she enjoyed Jules’s company. He had a sense of humor and, in a lot of ways, came across as more fun to be with than Peter. Or at least that’s how it seemed.
    Since she and Peter couldn’t really go anywhere or do anything together outside the walls of Rest Haven Cemetery, it was hard to tell if she was being fair.
    Cally stopped and shook her head. What was she thinking? How could she compare the two? What she and Peter shared was far deeper than the mere physical attraction she felt for Jules. Peter was the only person, besides her mother and grandmother, who knew what she really was. It didn’t matter to Peter that she was half vampire or half human.
    Even with diluted vampire blood in her veins, Cally knew she might live for centuries, which meant she had no choice but to watch the humans in her life grow old and die—including Peter.
    Cally had loved her granny very much, and the thought of having to go through another profound loss such as that made her stomach knot up like a balloon animal. She wondered how humans could stand going 87

    through their lives watching those they cared for wither and die.
    She could solve the problem of losing Peter simply enough by turning him undead—assuming a hybrid like her could even make undead in the first place.
    That way she could have him with her always, forever young and unchanging. But was that the right thing to do? What if whatever that attracted her to Peter, that made her love him, was no longer there after he became undead? What then?
    Disturbed by the direction her thoughts were taking her, she suddenly found herself needing to hear Peter’s voice. Maybe if she talked to him, the doubts that were plaguing her would disappear. She stepped off the side-walk and into a nearby doorway and quickly dialed Peter’s number.
    One ring. Two rings. Come on, Peter, answer. Three rings. She felt a tiny rush of relief as the other line picked up and a familiar voice filled her ear.
    “Hi . . .”
    “Peter! Sorry I’m calling so late—”
    “I can’t take your call right now, but please leave a message.”
    Cally frowned and snapped the cell phone shut.
    Normally Peter always answered the phone, no matter what time she called. Before she could obsess any further over her boyfriend’s late-night whereabouts, a 88

    shout of alarm broke the relative quiet.
    Cally leaned out of the doorway where she was standing in time to see Melinda running in the direction of the river. Three figures pursued her—and they held crossbows at the ready.
    As the strike team thundered across the decking of the recreation pier, the vampiress they were chasing whirled to face them, hissing in angry defiance. The trio of vampire hunters, composed of two men and a woman, automatically fanned out, crossbows cocked, effectively cutting their target off from the shore.
    Their prey suddenly dropped onto all fours, transforming into a black panther in the amount of time it took the strike team’s leader to yell, “Shoot her!” Before any of the vampire hunters could fire their weapons, the panther leaped, sinking three-inch fangs into the team leader’s throat. He shrieked in terror as she bore him to the deck of the pier.
    “Drummer!” the female vampire hunter screamed, opening fire on the creature attacking her friend.
    Arrows from her five-shot repeating crossbow pistol