LynnetteMarieHand
ezOP
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(8/17/05 6:30 am)
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Excerpt: The Protector's Destiny: Prologue
PROLOGUE
FEBRUARY, NEW ORLEANS
It was the most dangerous part of the night. Terrible things happen in the hours before dawn. Malevolent things. Evil stalked the night, its weight a fist crushing her soul.
Diving into the sea of humans overflowing Bourbon Street, Elizabeth moved through the crowd, looking for an avenue of escape. Doorways, alleys, everywhere, humans gathered, tossing back drinks and collecting beads. No place safe.
The streets spilled over with people too caught up in lust and alcohol to notice Elizabeth as she made her way silently through their midst, to frightened to risk drawing attention to herself.
Women bared their breasts to the crowd. Did the evil one stalking her notice, or was he too caught up in the hunt?
Someone hung plastic beads around her neck. Irritated, she reached up with a shaky hand and jerked on the plastic beads, tearing them away. Beads scattered unnoticed to the ground, crunched under her feet in her rush. Face forward she focused more on her surroundings and less on the people, determined to find her elusive asylum. Surely, there was an avenue of escape close by.
She needed to get out of the populated areas of the city so she could change into her wolf form. She was putting everyone in imminent danger by staying amongst the revelers.
Bolting down one alley, then another and another, Elizabeth’s feet splashed through puddles as she ran. Her heart hammered in her chest, knocked hard against her ribs. She moved further and further away from the crowds. The more distance she gained, the more comfortable she became. It didn’t take long for Elizabeth to leave the Quarter behind, yet still she ran.
The wind picked up speed, howled through the streets as lightening blazed a path across the sky. The frozen pellets of rain pierced her body like needles in a voodoo doll, weakening her. Still she ran. She ran for her life—for the life of the humans who didn’t know she existed, to keep them safe from the undead.
Beneath her skin, along her nerve endings, the tension grew. The vampire gained on her. The evil one’s stench reached out to envelope her. It smelled of brimstone and fire, of blood and death, and it suffocated her.
Elizabeth slipped around the corner. Glanced back. No one yet. She dashed down the next alley and clutched her throat. No! A dead end.
“I’m going to have to fight my way out.” She looked around for a weapon, anything to use against the vampire should he get close enough. The ground was littered with trash, but nothing she could use to destroy the beast.
With nowhere to go, Elizabeth tossed back her head in frustration. She wanted to scream, but that would only bring the creature even closer. No matter which way she turned, she remained trapped. Unable to run, unable to hide. With no other choice, she knew she’d have to fight to survive the night.
An unnatural calm descended upon her. Fear wouldn’t force her to run away. It’s time she stood up for herself, stood up for her people.
For hundreds of years, the undead stalked and ravaged her kind. Whole packs exterminated to give vampires free reign to enslave the human population. For once, she’d turn the tables.
A wailing wind heralded the creature’s approach. Time had run out. Elizabeth quickly slipped off her clothes and let her mind go blank. Her instincts took over. Only the need to finish what she’d started crowded her mind.
Eyes closed, Elizabeth let the change come. Muscles stretched and contorted, joints popped. Bones changed shape and grew. Power and strength surged through her body, completing the transformation. She dropped to all fours, as ready as she could be with no time to prepare. The disorientation and the pain of the transformation ended abruptly, as though it never occurred.
Braced for the upcoming battle, Elizabeth’s lips curled, she growled low in her throat. The fur on her neck bristled, her coat rippled as muscles bunched as the vampire approached.
The creature stood only a few feet away. His black jeans and tee shirt hung loosely over his gaunt frame. Gray skin stretched tightly across a hollow-cheeked face, its teeth yellow with decay. His presence caused a chill to run up and down her spine, her fur to stand on end. He smelled of foul blood, and decay.
“What a surprise. You’ve stopped running. I would have caught up with you eventually.” His voice was like death bones rattling, a hollow keening sound she would remember as long as she lived. She circled him, keeping him in front of her, unwilling to expose her back.
She shivered, terrified of the evil thing standing in front of her, but unwilling to back down, unable to back down. She’d never get away now. It was fight or die.
He loomed over her; his tongue ran across his teeth in anticipation. “You think you can challenge me, bitch? You empaths are all alike, but you don’t have the fortitude.” Soulless eyes swept her form, his attitude negligent. “I’ve won already. You might as well get down on your belly and grovel.” With a confident sneer, the vampire attacked.
One phrase echoed in her mind, ‘Overconfidence kills’.
Muscles bunched and her mind churned furiously as she tried to figure out how to exploit his weakness. It would be his downfall.
Arms reached out for her, a blur of movement. In less than a second, the wolf ducked under the creature’s outstretched arms and raked the vampire’s back with her claws as she passed. Even with her speed, she didn’t escape unscathed. Caught unaware, a fist caught her side, sending her tumbling to the ground. The rough pavement scraped the fur from the side of her muzzle. Her breath caught as a lance of pain pierced her.
The vampire’s blood splattered them both. The blood worked like an acid, burning through fur to skin and the muscle beneath. She stumbled to her feet, howled in pain, in anger, and charged again.
Repeatedly the pair came together, each doing their best to destroy the other. It was only a matter of time before she’d be too weak to go on. Weary, the wolf circled the creature knowing it was only a matter of time before weakness overcame her body, leaving her prey to his attack. Even knowing this, she still refused to run. Her kind had been running from the Vampire for as long as she’d been alive, longer even. No more running from her. Nevertheless, if she had to die, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Dawn lighted the sky, the sunrise a heartbeat away. Almost too weak to stand, she watched the vampire stalk forward for one more strike. She tried a second too late to dodge his venomous claws.
Blood covered her once raven black fur. Bleeding heavily, with too many wounds to count, she staggered, yet somehow remained upright. How would she survive? Too weak to fight, too weak to run, she howled. She howled in rage; howled in pain.
As though the heavens themselves heard her cries, the first rays of dawn’s light poked its head over the horizon. The vampire made an inhuman sound as his flesh began to smoke. The suns light forced him to flee before he could finish her off. His evil voice echoed from the alley as he fled, “This is not the end…I will find you again. No matter where you run, where you hide. I will find you…”
Too weak to hunt for a suitable place to hide, the wolf used the last of its strength to shift back into its human form. Her injuries would heal themselves eventually, even the gouges the vampire’s venomous claws made to her face, neck and arms.
Each move she made caused her muscles to tighten and pain to rack her frame. She dressed clumsily, slowly, for her once great strength depleted. She needed to get to safety before someone noticed her injuries and called an ambulance.
Muscles quivered in pain and exhaustion and Elizabeth made her decision. No more running. No more hiding. It was time to reclaim her life. Time to live up to her destiny. She turned toward the dawn and started home.
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