Free Caught in Darkness by Rose Wulf

clearly misinterpreting her latest silence (for which
she was grateful). “We only ask that you not tell others without solid reason.”
    Veronica blinked at him, taking a
full thirty seconds to understand his request. And then she wanted to smack
herself on the forehead. “Oh, don’t worry about that! I’m really not a
blabbermouth anyway.” She paused, pulling her lip between her teeth for a
moment before hesitantly admitting, “I do have questions, though. I want to be
nosy and ask how, well, old you really are—because you certainly don’t look a
day over thirty—and I want to know if any of those other ‘creature myths’ are
true and…. Well, I want to know.”
    He offered her a small, real smile
and supplied, “I was Turned at twenty-eight, back in
1787, but I suppose a couple hundred hard years will age even the immortal a
little.”
    Releasing a slightly-embarrassed
laugh, Veronica said, “I’m sorry, that was rude of me. It’s just all so much…I
never even considered that vampires could be real.”
    Shaking his head, Seth replied,
“Don’t worry about it. I know it’s a lot, and I won’t be able to explain
everything in one sitting, but hopefully I can fill you in on the basics.”
    “That would be nice,” Veronica
agreed.
    “Vampires aren’t the only
‘supernatural beings’ in existence,” Seth began calmly, “they came into this
world alongside the werewolves, sometime before recorded history. Legend has it
they originated from the same family. Aside from werewolves there are two types
of humans who qualify as something more than ordinary as well.”
    “Supernatural
humans?” Veronica repeated , one slim golden
brow lifted curiously. To her way of thinking that was an incredibly oxymoronic
phrase.
    “If you will, yes,” Seth replied
with a slight nod. “Witches—humans with self-taught magical ancestry who are
therefore born with special abilities—and what we’ve come to call Slayers. Both
are mortal, but both have abilities beyond ordinary humans.”
    Veronica nodded slowly, attempting
to process what he was saying. Werewolves almost made sense, given that
vampires were apparently real and vampires and werewolves were always
associated with each other. And witches seemed fairly self-explanatory, given
the assumption that magic had, at least once, been real. But he had been
entirely vague on the last one, so she repeated, “Slayers?”
    Seth’s frown returned, though only
faintly, as though the word brought an unfortunate taste to his mouth. “Humans with the ‘sixth sense’ to find any nearby vampire or
werewolf. We call them Slayers because that is what they do—they hunt
and exterminate supernatural beings for a living. Most claim they do it for the
greater good of the naïve human population, and most exterminate any vampire or
werewolf indiscriminately.”
    Veronica was quiet for a second at
that. She supposed, in a twisted way, it made sense that there would be people
like that. ‘Survival of the fittest’ and all. But…wait.
“Most?” she repeated curiously.
    “There has been the occasional
Slayer who recognizes that, like any other person, we have our good and our
bad,” Seth explained. “But those Slayers are rare.”
    “Ah.” The more he explained the
more she found herself feeling as if it all just made sense. Which,
of course, did not make sense. And, while she really wanted to know more
about everything he was telling her, she supposed she really ought to get back
on track to what was relevant. “So,” she began, “if I want to keep Richards
away from me should I hang a crucifix on my door and start wearing garlic
necklaces?”
    The grin returned, accompanied by a
low, short-lived chuckle, and Seth replied, “I think most people will avoid you
if you start wearing garlic jewelry.” His expression faded back to neutral and
he shook his head before continuing, “But, no, those things won’t really make a
difference. I’d say your pepper spray