Free BuriedSecrets by Ashley Shayne

Chapter One
     
    I crouched on top of the building carefully, making sure I
didn’t lose my balance on the slick roof, and peered into the alley. I could
see my prey below me, as yet unaware he was being stalked. Two streets more and
he would fall into our trap. From this high up, I couldn’t see him clearly, but
I’d studied pictures for months and I knew what this vampire, this Crispin
looked like. He was lean and muscular with blond, shaggy locks and piercing
green eyes. He had a firm, square chin and a sexy smile. Crispin’s looks were
part of the reason he was so dangerous. Not all of it, but part.
    The attractiveness of the target, though undeniable, was
irrelevant to the matter at hand. My mission was to capture him—alive, mind you—and
bring him back to our headquarters. I wasn’t exactly sure why my masters wanted
him. My masters had mentioned something about a secret location hiding
something they valued. They thought he knew where it was; therefore, he had to
be caught. As usual, when something dangerous with a low-survival rating came
along, the job fell to me.
    I paced carefully along after the creature, keeping to the
rooftops.
    “Any minute now,” I murmured to myself as he crossed the
first of my wards.
    A second later, it happened. Crispin crossed the inner
circle and a soft light glowed as the wards flared into life. The magic would
keep him in the circle for a short time. I’d been caught in a similar trap once
and knew it felt like a giant hand pressing down on you, draining your energy
and holding you in place. As the vampire reeled, a silver net dropped over him.
Quickly I swung down a line to the ground and pulled the tail end of the silver
net, tightening it around his ankles. He gave a cry of despair as he saw me and
fell to the ground as the noose bound his legs together. I gave a smile of
feral pleasure and paced toward him.
    “Hello,” I told him softly.
    He recoiled and snarled at me, and I jabbed him in the leg
with a needle I’d taken from my waist holster.
    “And goodnight,” I continued.
    His eyes closed and he stilled beneath my feet. Moving
quickly, I pulled a cell phone from my pocket.
    “I’ve got him,” I murmured when my call was answered, and
then I disconnected the call. I knelt down next to the vampire and looked at
him with interest. He really was attractive. He seemed to draw my eyes to him,
even if I didn’t want to look. I felt a shiver run down my spine and turned
away reluctantly.
    I had to wait only seconds before a large black van came
speeding into the alley. The back doors opened and two men jumped out. They
grabbed my catch and hauled him into the back of the van. I took my place up
front, pausing only to wipe a charcoal mark off the wall as I went, and we were
off.
    “Any problems?” the driver asked me, shooting a quick glance
in my direction.
    “None. Smooth as silk,” I replied.
    I looked back at him just in time to catch him sneaking a
look at my body. I was in my hunting outfit—tight black leather that hugged my
muscular frame. I don’t have a womanly figure, by any means. My breasts are
small and my hips are practically nonexistent. What I did have was
perfectly toned, and men certainly seemed to appreciate it. My face was long
and thin, and my dark hair was cut short, close to my skull. I always thought I
looked dangerous and mean, not at all like a beauty queen, but despite that—or
perhaps, in part, because of it—I didn’t have trouble getting men’s attention.
    The problem was that I rarely ever wanted that attention. I
only met men I was associated with in a business sense and they usually saw me
as a trophy to be won. Either that or they assumed I was so sex-starved that
the attention of any man was sure to be the fulfillment of my wildest dreams. I’d
broken a few noses when disappointed men wouldn’t take no for an answer. I
could take care of myself, but the men I worked with were also universally
dangerous, and I worried one