Free Night Hungers by Kathi S. Barton Page A

what she’d done. When the phone rang it was the man again. He sounded...well, amused came to mind and Zane wondered about it. Before she could inquire about it he gave her the next assignment.
    “I have a vampire that needs to be taken down. He has killed a number of humans and the Council wants him destroyed tonight. How quickly can you get to D.C.?”
    ~CHAPTER 9~
    Zane had been just seventeen when her world had turned upside down. She’d never been outside the lab, not that she’d know what to do when she got there. Zane had been looking into the minds of the lab assistants for years trying to discover where they went, what they did. None of it seemed all that great. Not that in her cell was any different, but it was all she’d ever known.
    The man in charge, Timothy Daniels, was coming down the hall again and he wasn’t alone. He had his usual protégé of four—Scott, Homer, John, and Phillip. She hated him, Timmy, and what he did to them. She thought that he enjoyed the torture much more than anyone did and they all got some rush out of besting them. Zane heard them call the person next to her to the back of his cell and wait.
    “When I open this door you’ll do as you’re told or I will make you suffer. You know how much I hate to do this to you. Are you going to cooperate, Zulu Alpha Eight?”
    None of the occupants had names. They all went by the numbers just above their doors. Zane had gotten her name from them, Zulu Alpha Nine—Zane. But the humans kept mispronouncing it and had said Zander, so she left it at that.
    “Please, I’m injured. I want to just rest for another day. I haven’t been fed today or yesterday. Just one more day.”
    Zane had gone to the wall that connected to Eight and pressed against it. She fed him through the connection they all had that they didn’t think the lab boys knew about. She could feel him gaining from it and when she’d given him enough she stepped back and huddled into the corner on the opposite wall. Just as she sat down and drew the shadows around herself someone banged on her door.
    “Zulu Alpha Nine, you come out where I can see you now. Don’t make me have to come in there and get you again. I won’t be as easy this time.” She knew that voice.
    Scott.
    “Come in and try. I’m not bleeding this time and I’ll feed on your hot blood. I could always use a nice snack before I kill you.”
    Energy poured into her. Every inmate in the place hated what they were and wanted out. Zane knew that if Scott came in he’d be armed. Well, so was she. She’d found the magic book and had hidden it in her room several weeks ago. She was ready for him and all the others. The tattoos were done and she had enhanced them with the help of the witch across the hall. Now all she had to do was wait.
    Zane heard the keys in the lock and smiled. Not a good smile that reached her eyes, but one of anticipation, one of hunger. When Scott stepped into the room with his weapon drawn Zane didn’t move. She’d wait for him to come closer. As he swept the room with his flashlight she shifted. Moving behind him she shifted into herself again and pulled the blade out from behind her.
    Just before she touched him she leaned in and whispered in his ear. “You should have stayed outside, Scott. I told you what I’d do.”
    Snapping his head back, she sank her teeth deep into his jugular as he started to scream. His blood, tainted with coke and other drugs, hit her system hard. None of it would hurt her or affect her, but it did leave a bitter taste in her mouth.
    Zane couldn’t drain him. It was a myth that a vampire could drain a human. There was simply too much blood in a body and it would take a very long time to do it, even with several people. But she could kill him. Pulling away and not sealing the deep, jagged wound, she dropped him to the floor when she’d had her fill, not caring that he was bleeding to death.
    Picking up his Taser and his gun, Zane put them next to her