Free Blood and Stone by C. E. Martin Page A

“You see, we vampires have a sort of sixth sense for that kind of thing. We can feel where others of our kind are.”
    “So you’ve been sending the Army after your own kind?”
    “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do,” Laura said, shrugging.
    “You’re not leaving the island,” Kenslir said grimly.
    “Why can’t she leave?”
    Laura moved next to Victor, and ran a finger down his chest. “Because I’m a vampire, silly. I can’t cross water on my own.”
    “Because she might just eat someone back at base,” Kenslir said. “She can’t help herself.”
    “You could help me, Mark,” Laura said, making a pouting face. “You don’t want me to stay here all by myself and starve do you?”
    “We’ll find some more prisoners.”
    “What if I told you I can track your six-fingered bogey man?”
    Kenslir was surprised. He pushed his tactical visor up on his forehead so he could see better. “Can you?”
    “He’s part vampire now. Of course I can.”
    Kenslir stepped closer and grabbed Laura by the arms. “Stop playing around, Laura. Where is he?”
    “He’s headed southeast,” she said, pointing toward the coast. “And he’s made it out of the country now.”
     
     

CHAPTER TWELVE
     
     
     
     
     
    Tezcahtlip was flying southeast, over the desert, only a few hundred feet up. His dragon eyes scoured the sides of hills and cliffs, looking for a very specific target. In the remote desert, he doubted anyone would see him, so he flew boldly, in his dragon form, daylight scattering off his metallic red scales.
    At last, he found his prey. The dragon tucked his wings in and plummeted, angling for the large, brown eagle circling below. Opening his mouth wide, Tezcahtlip consumed the eagle in flight, whole. He crunched the startled bird between his many teeth, tasting it’s feathers, blood, bones, flesh, and heart.
    In mid-flight, Tezcahtlip immediately transformed himself, his red sheen vanishing as his scales turned brown, then lengthened, forming long feathers. His reptilian claws changed as well, forming something more like that of the eagle’s, only larger. In seconds, the red-scaled dragon was replaced by a feathered, serpent-like beast of Tezcahtlip’s imagination.
    Huge, brown, leathery wings tipped with feathers now beat the air, and the shapeshifter quickly gained altitude. He would soon pass over populated areas as he headed on, ever southeast. High above the ground, he would be mistaken for a bird. With nothing to gauge his size against, he would seem unremarkable.
    Before long, he would reach his destination, and then he his work could begin.
    ***
     
    When Mark Kenslir had spared her life and recruited her, Laura Olson had been taken to a remote desert location and placed under heavy guard. A battery of tests had been performed on her, by shamans, telepaths and scientists. Eventually, she was transferred to Alcatraz, and checked on via telephone by Kenslir every few months—for the first few years—until she’d apparently earned the government’s trust.
    All these years later, she’d finally made it off Alcatraz, accompanying Kenslir and the strange stone-skinned man named Victor on a Blackhawk helicopter. They had flown directly to San Francisco’s International Airport, where they traded the helicopter for an unmarked Boeing 707 passenger plane.
    The military jet had immediately lifted off and Laura found herself under guard the entire flight back to Miami. Kenslir had sat in stony silence the entire flight, watching her as he ate pastries and typed a report of some kind into a laptop. Victor had been more engaging in the conversation department.
    “So, how come you can go out during the day time?” Victor had asked.
    “You watch too many movies.”
    “Vampires aren’t affected by the sun?”
    Laura laughed. For a man with stone skin, this Victor didn’t seem to know that much. “We don’t burst into flames. Sunlight affects our optic nerves. It causes intense pain,