Unnatural Alliances (Hunters and Vampires: Book 1)

By DD Marie

A world filled with supernatural creatures can be deadly to its inhabitants. The vampire princess from Chicago, Brynn Carson, knows this, having to fight against these creatures on a nightly basis. When a hunter, Parker Shields, is saved by her, he faces creatures he never knew existed. Can a hunter and vampire put aside their differences or will a city fall due to their unnatural partnership?

• Language: English
• Publisher: DD Marie
• Release date: Sep 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301277162

DD Marie

D.D. Marie is a recent graduate from Michigan State University and currently lives in Michigan. D.D. began writing books in middle school as a result of a bullying incident. A life long animal lover, D.D.’s initial career choice was to become a veterinarian. Writing soon became a passion though and a career in veterinary medicine became a memory.Interestingly, D.D. does it ‘old school’. The books are written out long hand and then typed into the computer. D.D. believes this ‘slow’ method helps develop the story.

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Unnatural Alliances

Book 1 of the Hunters and Vampires Chronicles

D.D. Marie

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 D.D. Marie

Cover Picture Copyright 2013 Victoria Fernholz

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For my family whom, without their support, this book would not exist

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Night on the Town

Chapter 2: Questions and Answers

Chapter 3: Treachery

Chapter 4: Bonded by Blood

Chapter 5: Deals and Missions

Chapter 6: Man Vs Machine

Chapter 7: Lessons

Chapter 8: Leaving the Lair

Chapter 9: Traveling into the Dark

Chapter 10: Hunting for an Exit

Chapter 11: Patching Wounds

Chapter 12: A Creature Army

Chapter 13: Hunted by the Daylight

Chapter 14: Dodging Tensions

Chapter 15: Mission Complications

Chapter 16: Fighting for the Answer

Chapter 17: Magical Interlude

Chapter 18: Fiery Fights in the Rain

Chapter 19: Sibling Rivalry

Chapter 20: The New Normal

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About the Author

Chapter 1: Night On The Town

A chill ran through the girl’s skin as she watched over the graveyard from a branch on a tree taller than anything else within sight. In the dark night, she could have been invisible with her charcoal hair and camouflage clothes, but her pale as paper skin made her stand out. Anyone that passed by might have thought she was a statue due to her being as still as a rock embedded in cement. The only parts of her that moved were her grey eyes that scanned the graveyard for any disturbance. Silence filled the night space while the girl waited patiently.

Suddenly, she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. She snapped her head to stare at the grave that the movement had come from. In front of the headstone, a small crack in the ground had opened up. The girl narrowed her eyes as she watched a hand pop out of the ground. Some of the hand’s skin and muscles were hanging off the bones. The hand stuck in the air, acting like it was grasping something that wasn’t there. Mouth twitching, the girl formed a smirk on her face. Getting up so she could stretch, a groan escaped the girl’s lips. She had been sitting on the branch since the sun went down.

In the blink of an eye, she had disappeared from the branch and was rustling through a backpack at the base of the tree. She pulled out what looked like a gun folded in half. Snapping up part of it, the girl locked the two pieces together before she reached back into the backpack. She found what she needed in a miniature propane tank. Weighing it with her hand, she determined that it was full enough to use and attached it to the gun, biting her lip slightly as she concentrated. Looking up, she noticed that another hand had popped out of the crack in the ground beside the gravestone. The hands were grabbing the ground as they pulled the rest of the body out of the grave. With a sigh, the girl burst into a run. A head broke through the ground just in time to watch the girl stop right in front of him. He turned his decomposing head up to see the girl smirking down at him, pointing the gun at him.

I’ve been waiting all night for you, the girl told the zombie. She placed her foot on his head, pushing him back into the grave. Before he could come back up, she stuck the gun into the hole in the ground, pulling the trigger. A flame burst from the end of it, engulfing the zombie. She winced as the scream from the zombie pierced her eardrums, but she didn’t let up on the trigger. The screaming’s pitch went higher and higher before it finally stopped completely. A smile of triumph passed across the girl’s lips as she removed the gun from the hole. As she headed back over to her backpack, she disassembled the gun so she could fit it in her bag. Once the gun was stored, she strapped the bag on her back and headed out of the cemetery.

The girl walked down the busy street, blending in with the crowd. She was so busy focusing on her destination that she didn’t see someone come out of a car that had been parked right outside the graveyard. The man stood up straight as his chocolate eyes zeroed in on the girl in the crowd. Slamming his car door shut, he locked it and followed the girl into the crowd. One of his hands edged its way into a pocket in his cargo pants, checking if his dagger was still in there. He breathed a sigh of relief when his hand grasped the handle.

Completely skipping a line, the girl went up to the bouncer of a club. All she had to do was give the bouncer a nod and he let her in. Stopping his stalking, the guy groaned in defeat as he got into the line for the club. Frustration gripped him as he ran a hand through his shaggy, dark brown hair.

Inside the club, the girl looked over the dancing crowd of young adults. The smell of alcohol reached the girl’s nose as she scanned the room for someone. Music filled her ears from the DJ booth’s speakers. A smile broke across her red lipstick covered lips when she noticed the person she was looking for sitting at the bar on the other side of the room. She hurried over to the bar and sat next to the man. Tapping his shoulder, he stopped drinking his beer and glanced at her.

How was your graveyard shift, Brynn? the man at the bar asked.

There was only one tonight, Brynn responded. She raised her hand to motion to the bartender. Nodding his head, the bartender began making Brynn her usual drink. You know I hate working the graveyard. Can’t you pull some strings so I don’t have to do them anymore?

Just because you’re my daughter doesn’t mean I can get you out of doing the grunt work. The man took a sip of his beer, some of the foam of its head getting stuck in his pitch black mustache. He quickly brushed it away.

You’d think that the king of our clan would have some type of pull on who does what, Brynn mumbled.

We all have to do things we don’t want to do, her father replied. Now, do you smell that?

Brynn took a whiff of the air before she described the smell, Death and decay with a touch of something else.

That’s limestone, he identified the last one.

There’s a mummy here? Brynn realized. Sweet! I haven’t seen one of those since that training session in Egypt. The bartender placed Brynn’s margarita on the bar in front of her. Did you get a chance to see it?

Her father shook his head, Haven’t seen it yet. Keep an eye out. Brynn grabbed her drink and swiveled in her stool to stare out into the crowd, scanning each person for a sign of a mummy. You shouldn’t be drinking that. You’re underage. Someone might notice.

Oh, come on, Brynn retorted. Don’t give me that speech again. I look old enough to be drinking and you know as well as I do that alcohol doesn’t affect vampires the same way as humans. We can get drunk, but have no damage to our organs. Besides, this one’s a virgin. Brynn’s eyes went back to the crowd, missing her dad’s eye roll.

While Brynn concentrated on the crowd, the man that followed her finally entered the building. He noticed her at the bar and immediately joined the dancing crowd so he could watch her without drawing attention.

Mummies aren’t native in Chicago, Brynn spoke to her father. How did it get here?

There’s an Ancient Egyptian exhibit in a nearby museum, he responded. The night guard reported a missing mummy. So, if this is the same mummy, you should be looking for a girl. Brynn nodded, focusing her attention on the dancing females. None of them seemed to be acting any different than the others.

Suddenly, the man that had followed her was startled as a hand rested on his shoulder. He found that the hand was attached to a girl that was barely legal.

She gave the man a sweet smile before asking, Here alone?

He pulled himself away, Not interested.

You sure about that? The girl stood in front of him, staring straight into his brown eyes. Something about her stare made him fall apart. He went zombie-like; eyes going blank, jaw dropping slightly, limp but still able to stand. The girl smirked as she ran a finger from his cheek to his chin. Not the greatest, but you’ll do. Follow me. She led him off the dance floor and through a door to the back of the club.

Brynn noticed the entire exchange. She narrowed her eyes as she told her dad, I think I found her.

You know what to do, her father responded. Brynn nodded and got up so she could follow the guy and girl into the back of the club.

Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out what looked like a gun, but actually launched nets. Slowly, she followed the other two, ready to spring into action if needed. The girl pulled the boy into a room and Brynn peeked in after them. The boy was standing in the middle of the room while the girl watched him from the wall. She fiddled with a necklace in her hand. The pendant strung along the gold chain was in the shape of a diamond and had a sapphire in the middle of it. Undoing the clasp, she put the necklace around her neck. She gave the pendant a kiss and her lips began to turn the same gold color of the pendant. With a smirk, she strutted up to the man. Pursing her lips, she leaned closer to him.

She didn’t get a chance to kiss him because Brynn chose that moment to tackle the girl to the ground. The sudden movement made the boy snap out of the trance he was under. He watched the fighting girls, backing away slightly. Brynn grabbed the necklace and pulled it off the girl, throwing it to the side. The girl gasped as her lips changed back to their normal pink color. Angrily, she kicked Brynn off of her so she could get up and run after her necklace. Brynn took a glance over at the boy, checking if he was okay, only to find a dagger pointing at her. From its jewel encrusted hilt to its sharpened edges with a little bit of rust, the dagger seemed to be an antique. Brynn’s eyebrows went up in surprise.

Vampire, the boy accused. Brynn gave him a toothy smile, showing off her fangs.

Hunter, Brynn realized what she was facing. How ironic it is that a vampire saved your life when you’ve devoted your life to fighting them. She glanced over at where the mummy was. The girl had disappeared with her necklace. Brynn groaned, And you made me lose my mummy!

Mummy? the boy lowered his dagger slightly, but still had a firm grip on it.

So, you hunt vampires, but you don’t know what we actually do? Brynn responded.

You feed on helpless humans! the boy exclaimed, jabbing the dagger forward in the air.

Obviously, you haven’t done enough research to realize that vampires usually work in pairs, Brynn jeered. The boy didn’t get a chance to react before Brynn’s father came behind the boy and knocked him unconscious with a blow to the head. He fell to the floor in a heap.

It’s too bad that hunters can’t tell the good vampires from the bad ones, Brynn’s father told her. Brynn picked up the dagger and looked it over.

You can take care of him, right? Brynn put the dagger in her backpack along with her net gun. I’m gonna go finish my drink before I head back. She left the room, making her way back to the bar. Her dad shook his head slightly before he picked up the boy, put him over his shoulder and left the room.

Chapter 2: Questions And Answers

The boy woke up, lying on cement ground. He rubbed the back of his head, moaning in pain. Glancing around the place, he tried to figure out where he was. Three of the walls were made up of the same gray cement as the ground with dark brown stains. The walls, ceiling and ground were worn and crumbling in places. Carvings were placed over the walls randomly; looking more like something was trying to scratch its way out than an artistic piece. The rest of the room reminded him of a jail cell; a cot sat in the corner with ratty green covers, a muck-covered toilet and sink were attached to the wall and each of them had such foul smells that it induced nausea, the fourth wall was actually made up of steel bars, rusting from the lack of care. On the other side of the bars, Brynn stood there with a smirk on her face and arms crossed, staring at him. She had wiped away her lipstick, revealing her lips to be as silver as a blade. Like it had been messed up on purpose, parts of her black hair ran in front of her face.

I see you’re finally awake, Brynn spoke to the man. Name’s Brynn. What’s yours?

Have you been watching me while I sleep? the guy asked.

Yeah, Brynn replied nonchalantly. Why? Is that creepy or something?

You could say that.

Huh. Duly noted. Just so you know, I’ve been given the task of feeding you. Brynn picked up a tray of food off the ground. The guy licked his lips hungrily at the sight of it. And I see you’re hungry. So, why don’t we make a bargain? You tell me your name, I give you food.

"Why would I tell