PROLOGUE
So this is what death feels like.
Maya Black struggled for breath, struggled to fight the creeping cold that swept through her body. Jesus. She hadn't wanted to go out like this. Hadn't wanted to die in some damn dirty, stinking alley.
She'd been born in an alley like this, and she sure as hell hadn't planned to die in one.
"Ummm, you taste so good." The sick monster above her licked his fangs, freaking fangs, and she noticed that her blood coated his lips. "Poor little cop, I think I've drained you dry."
Her heart was slowing, the hollow beat barely echoing in her ears. The ground was hard beneath her, the moon shining brightly over her. And hell looked back at her from the creature's eyes.
A vampire. She knew what he was. She'd seen his kind before. Others thought things like him were just myths, but she knew better. She knew demons were real, knew the devil was real. Evil lurked in the world, she'd known that fact for years.
"Beg me," the vampire whispered, leaning over her and gazing at her with his soulless black eyes. "Beg me to change you, beg me to let you live."
To change you. No, oh, hell, no. She didn't want to become a monster. And she would never, never beg.
Not again.
He slashed his wrist open with the edge of his fangs. Shoved the wound to her mouth.
No!
She turned her head away, trying to spit out the blood. Her hands fumbled in the trash beside her.
Where was her weapon? The vampire had jumped her, thrown her against the wall, sank those razor-sharp fangs into her throat, and then had her on the ground in less than a minute.
She'd dropped her gun. Where was it? Where-
Her fingers closed over the barrel of her Glock. She pulled, struggling to bring the weapon closer. It felt so heavy in her hand, so-
He laughed at her. Actually laughed. Then he grabbed the gun. Her fingers swiped out, clenched around the butt. He pushed the barrel dead-center against his chest and whispered, "Do it."
Without a moment's hesitation, she pulled the trigger.
The bullet shot straight through his chest. He smiled at her.
And her heart stuttered. The beat was slowing, slowing .
"You can't kill me, bitch, not with your weak bullets, not with-"
He broke off, gasping, and he stumbled away from her, raising a hand to his chest. Smoke rose from the wound, a long, thin trail of smoke. The scent of burnt flesh filled the air, combined with the stench of rotten food in the alley.
Maya's lips curled as she stared at him.
"Wh-what-" He fell to his knees, holding his chest. "Wh-what d-did y-you do?"
She'd covered her bullets in holy water. She'd been doing that since she joined the force ten years ago. Since her first night, when a vampire had attacked her while she was patrolling the park.
She'd barely gotten away from him. Maya had kicked, bit, fought with every ounce of strength she had. In the end, she'd been lucky. She'd managed to keep fighting him until her partner arrived to help her.
She'd survived.
But tonight would be different, she knew that. There was no backup for her tonight. She'd been working the case alone. Following a lead.
Following death.
The vampire lunged for her, grabbed her hair; and jerked her head back. His black eyes were rimmed with red. Tears of blood leaked down his cheeks.
His teeth ripped across her neck, but she didn't scream. Didn't have the strength to scream anymore.
Her finger jerked on the trigger, firing again, again, again-
But he didn't stop. Didn't stop biting her, drinking from her, killing her.
So this is what death feels like.
Darkness surrounded her. Complete, suffocating darkness.
"What the hell do you think got a hold of her?" A man's voice, shaken.
"Dunno." A woman, she sounded like she truly didn't give a shit.
Her body was lifted. Pushed. A door slammed.
Silence.
Two more doors slammed.
An engine started.
"Did you see the blood?" The man's voice again. "That whole freaking alley was covered with her blood."
"Um." The woman.
"Had to be an animal, right? I mean, nothing else could have done that to her throat."
Maya frowned. Her throat didn't hurt anymore. In fact, nothing hurt. But she still felt cold.
And it was so dark.
What had happened to the moonlight? A crackle of static, then a hard voice blasted, "Second ambulance en route. Got a body three streets over-a shooting victim…"
Shooting victim. The vamp? She hoped she'd killed his ass. Maybe he'd crawled away and died.
But what the hell had happened to her? She tried to move, tried to lift her hands, but something surrounded her, trapped her.
A growl of frustration and fear rumbled in her throat.
"Did you hear that?" The guy's voice was nearly a shriek.
Maya winced.
"No, I didn't hear a damn thing." But the woman's heart was suddenly beating faster.
How the hell can I hear her heart? "Let's just hurry up and drop her ass off at the morgue, okay?" Mr. Shrill and Scared. "I swear, I-I think I saw the bag move."
The morgue. The bag.
Shit. Suddenly, Maya knew exactly what was happening. Those idiots had tagged her, had thought she was dead. She'd even thought so, too, for a time. She'd thought for certain she felt the icy touch of death.
But she was still alive. She'd fought, and she was still alive. Still– "I'm alive!" Her voice emerged as a scream.
The squeal of brakes followed her cry. The vehicle swerved, fishtailed, then screeched to a stop.
Maya squirmed, fighting the darkness that surrounded her. Her nails caught a thick, hard fabric, dug in, ripped, slashed.
" Jesus Christ!" A jerk of a zipper. Then light, bright, blinding light spilled onto her. She blinked against the light and against the sudden, sharp stab of pain in her eyes.
Then she saw the man. Young, with sandy blond hair and dark, wire-framed glasses. He was thin, lanky. The woman stood looking just over his shoulder. Her red hair flared around her and her green eyes were so wide they seemed to swallow her face.
"Y-you y-you…" The chick's mouth opened and closed like a fish's. Her pulse beat madly in her throat. The thudding filled Maya's ears, made her mouth water.
She shoved out of the bag, a damn body bag, and leapt from the back of the ambulance. She wound up soaring ten feet into the air and then she came back down to the ground with a thud.
The woman screamed. Maya glanced back just in time to see the redhead's eyes roll back into her head as she fainted.
The man's face turned completely white as the color bleached from his skin. "Wh-what are you?"