Free Heartless (Blue Fire Saga) by Scott Prussing

him and grabbed him by his upper arms, her grip like a vise on his biceps. The surprise on his face quickly gave way to a smile.
    His smile surprised Leah. She wondered if he somehow thought he was about to get lucky, that some woman had just happened to appear out of the woods for the sole purpose of showing him a good time. He would learn soon enough that a good time was indeed about to be had, but it would not be by him. She began to extrude her fangs.
    A burning sensation like a powerful electric shock shot through her body, reaching from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. For a searing instant she was completely paralyzed, and then the pain disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. She had no idea what had just occurred, but she didn’t feel like she had been injured at all, so she returned to the business at hand and set about dropping her fangs again.
    Unbelievably, nothing happened. The familiar pleasure of extruding her fangs was nowhere to be found. She let go of the human with one hand and reached for her mouth, trying to feel the points of her incisors, to no avail. Her teeth were smooth and even all the way across. She had no idea what was going on—such a thing had never happened to her before. She wondered if it was related to the burning pain she had felt moments ago.
    Jones’ grin widened. “Looking for these?” he asked as two curved fangs extended down from his upper jaw.
    Leah stared incredulously at the guy’s fangs, wondering how she had failed to sense that he was a vampire. And even if he was a vampire, what had he done to her to affect her powers? She did not understand any of this. One thing she knew, though—whatever was going on, she had to get away from here, right now.
    She tried to bound away, but her muscles seemed to have lost their vampire strength. What should have been a leap of twenty feet turned instead into one short, stumbling step. This could not be happening! She would have fallen, unbalanced by the unexpected change, but Jones grabbed her by the arm. She attempted to pull free, but his grip was like steel.
    “You’re not going anywhere, vampire,” Jones said, his voice dripping with menace.
    “Who…what are you?”
    “I am the one who is going to hurl you into the abyss, which is exactly where all your kind belong.”
    Leah tried once more to pull away, but it was hopeless. The man was much too strong. She looked into his eyes, hoping for some sign of mercy, but saw only her own reflection. Suddenly, she understood what had happened. Somehow, he had drained her of her powers and taken them for himself. Those were her fangs in his mouth, her strength in the grip of his fingers. She sagged in his grasp, knowing she was lost.
    “Do what you must,” she said, surrendering to the inevitable the way many had surrendered to her over the centuries.
    “That is exactly what I intend to do.”
    Jones resisted the urge to sink his teeth into the tender white flesh of her neck. Absorbing an enemy’s powers also meant absorbing their appetites and desires—appetites which he had to fight to suppress, lest he become no better than those he sought to destroy. Still, he was tempted to indulge himself in other ways, but reminded himself that his comrades were waiting for him. There would be time for enjoyment later, he hoped, if their investigation at the college bore fruit.
    He closed his mouth and grabbed Leah by both sides of her head. With a sharp twist and a yank, he ripped her head from her neck. Black ichor spewed from the stump of her neck as he carried her carcass and her head deeper into the trees. Using his newfound vampire strength, he quickly dug a hole and tossed her remains into it. After pushing the dirt back on top of her and stamping it down, he leaned against a nearby tree and waited, calming himself before returning to the diner to join the others.
    When he did, he was smiling.
     

 
    11. XENORIANS
     
     
    S hortly before noon on Saturday morning,