Free Vampire Awakening by Eliza Gayle

lot....
    Empty? What the fuck? He twisted left and right, scanning for Russell. Nothing. He kicked the trashcan standing next to him, cursing his failure, when he remembered the other vampire. Twisting to the right, he bolted behind the low wall next to the back entrance of the building. Shit. The male vampire lay in a bloody heap by the door where he'd been thrown after being stabbed in the neck. Beyond the wash of blood clouding Caleb’s vision, he caught sight of the small stake protruding from the man’s back. Shit . He crouched next to the body and listened to the sounds of his last breaths gurgling from his torn throat. He was too late.
    What a fucking mess. Now he would once again have to work cover up for his cousin. This kind of shit sucks, he thought as he rolled the dying vampire over and—
    Shit. Shit. Shit. It was Brian, Abby's drummer. He'd known there was likely a connection, but hell, he didn't expect this. What was the point of killing someone you had working the inside? Obviously he’d stopped being useful. Caleb reached across the body and picked up Brian’s bloody drumsticks.
    “Caleb?” At the sound of her voice, he shifted his body to hide the worst of the damage to her almost dead friend.
    “Abby, what are you doing out here? I thought you were working inside.”
    “I came out here to look for Brian, we are waiting for him to go—” Her face paled as she walked into the light. “What the hell happened to you? Were you in a fight? Are you okay? There is blood all over—” Her eyes fixated on the ground behind him as she realized a body lay there. She stumbled backward away from the bloody scene.
    “Is that—? Dear God, is that—?” Looking panic stricken, her eyes dilated and widened. Caleb quickly sent out a mental push to calm her before she started screaming for help. As usual, her mind resisted him as he gathered the remainder of his strength, forcing his persuasion on her.
    “It's okay, Abby. I'm fine. Your friend Brian was attacked. I did my best to help him, but I was too late.”
    “What do you mean too late?” Her voice rose. “He's— He's dead?”
    Caleb pushed at her mind some more, infusing her with everything he had. “Everything is fine, darlin’. Just a terrible, random tragedy.” He watched tears splash across her pale cheeks before she finally nodded her head in agreement.
    “But I don’t understand. Who would do something like this? How are you involved?” Damn, her mind was so strong. How was she able to resist his suggestions? And how the hell could Russell have wiped her memories if she was this strong? Taking away one event, such as a feeding, was fairly doable, but suppressing every memory was a little bit different. Things were beginning to not add up.
    “You need to go back inside and stay there until I come back for you.” She stood still, staring up at him as if unsure of what to do. His anger rose at her defiance. “Abby, go inside and finish your shift. Let me handle this for you and everything will be fine.” Several long moments later, she turned away with a final glance down at the body behind him. As she faced the building, a subtle pop and rustling came from behind him. Damn. Brian’s final breath had led to his body disintegrating to a fine ash. Pushing harder at Abby’s mind, he somehow managed to keep her walking toward the door. When she disappeared inside, Caleb breathed a sigh of relief.
    With the death of a vampire and no real witnesses, there wasn’t much left to clean. He gathered Brian’s clothes and drumsticks and carried them to the round metal trash barrel at the far end of the parking lot. With the lighter he kept in his jacket pocket, Caleb set the remnants of evidence on fire and watched them burn. Ash and smoke floated in the air as the fire quickly burned out.
    Caleb headed back to his bike while thinking of Abby and the voice that had be spelled him from the first time he’d heard her sing. But even before that,