Bloodline: Reaper Saga, #1

By Blair M Thorne

A young woman slaughtered in a dank alley, her blood used to write a cryptic invitation.

A race of beings hidden from the populace.

Sven Nulis is used to hunting savage paranormals in their dens, but this case is chasing him. The killer wants to meet…if Sven can find him before the last victim falls.

Taunting messages scrawled in blood.

A great power trying to sink its claws into Sven’s mind.

The clock ticks down to darkness.

Can the man known as the Reaper save the Empire from his own blood?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fish in the Pen Publishing
• Release date: Feb 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9780615973494

Blair M Thorne

Part time writer and full time creative, Blair M. Thorne left behind a life of beakers and organics when she finally acknowledged she had fallen in love with the pen. She lives in Illinois with her husband and two sassy purr boxes. You can find her on: Twitter: @bthorne89 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blair.thorne.7

Book preview

Chapter 1

Nothing is more tenacious than a wereanimal guarding territory.

Except a feral vampire.

Claws swept past my hair. The black strands slapped my face as I dodged the attack.

My blaster swung up and roared.

Blood splattered the wood under my boots.

The vampire shrieked, darting away.

A graze. No good.

I tracked its path. My boots thudded over the floor after my prey. The vampire spun to face me. Crimson stained its pupils. Flesh was pulled gaunt over bone. Saliva dribbled down its chin from a mouth full of razor teeth. And a smoldering new hole decorated the center of its bare chest.

My finger smashed the trigger once more.

The round made a crater in the wood floor where the vampire had been. My prey swept in from the right. Its body blurred around the edges.

No time to change weapons.

I smashed my gun-laden fist into its jaw.

Under my knuckles, bone turned to powder.

Something collided with my back, and my feet left the ground.

We landed in a heap.

A clawed hand was nestled in my hair, pressing my face into the floor. Hot saliva oozed down the side of my face. The stagnant aura of a vampire hovered over me. Ribbons of crystal flame in my own aura writhed in protest to the foreign presence pressed against it.

I bucked, body slamming against the vamp on my back. It tumbled to the floor beside me, claws hooked in my hair.

I rolled, scalp screaming when I left hair with my prey.

The toe of my boot slammed into the vampire’s face.

It shrieked and scrambled away.

I hit my feet.

My gun roared twice.

And the heads of my vamps disappeared in a splatter of gore.

Another scream stabbed the air. I twisted to face it, and found a quartet of blood-crazed vampires charging toward me.

Dammit, Klasen. How long does it take to break a lock?

My finger snapped the trigger.

Once.

Twice.

The remaining two were on me.

I threw my arm up to protect my face. The vampire’s fangs slid through my leather jacket and the black shirt beneath. Metal cried out as teeth raked over my steel forearm. The vampire worried at the limb, scraping grooves in the surface.

I buried my blaster in the vamp’s chest and pulled the trigger.

Blood painted the floor, and the corpse followed.

When I turned, expecting another opponent, I watched Delp retrieve his knife from the neck of the last vampire. You should guard your back better, dwarf, he said.

A muscle twitched beside my eye.

I wasn’t that damn short.

I just wanted to make sure you carried your weight, wood nymph, I said.

My gaze shifted to survey the length of the banquet room. Tables had been smashed up against the walls. Some of them hadn’t survived the experience. The pale décor had brand new crimson and pink accents. Bodies were strewn about the floor with an array of holes torn through them. And we weren’t anywhere near the juicy goods, yet.

Delp snorted. I bet two-thirds of this mess is mine.

I flicked my attention back to him.

Blood colored the natural tan of his hands and soaked the sleeves of his uniform jacket. More made dark spots on his red shirt and dark jeans.

The very reason I wore all black.

If only there was something a guy could do about the chunks of internal organs.

The blonde stubble Delp tried to pass off as hair would be a heck of a lot easier to clean the evidence from than mine. A scar bisected his right cheek, a present from our partner during the only fight I’d ever seen them have. His silvery pupils swirled with gentle waves even as the electric current in his aura crackled with adrenaline.

I shook my head. No way a wood nymph killed twice as many vamps as I did.

His eyes went to instant maelstrom.

I could out kill—

Metal thunked against something solid.

Delp’s blaster cleared leather. We spun, and found ourselves aiming at Klasen. He stood in front of the door with his hands in the air on either side of his head.

If being drawn on had any effect on him, nothing in his bland expression betrayed it. The column of fire inside his cage-like aura flickered and spit a single spark.

The door is unlocked, he said.

I lowered my weapon. Good work.

Klasen let his hands fall back to his sides. The uniform jacket shifted into place on his shoulders. He wore a crisp white shirt with the buttons done just so. Black slacks and dress shoes completed the executive look. Even the shoulder-length strands of his brown hair lay unmolested.

Unlike Delp and I. We both looked like we killed things for a living.

Compared to us, Klasen’s musculature didn’t advertise the violence of our profession. But his swirling, silver eyes could see a dust particle landing on someone’s shoulder at fifty yards.

We joined him at the door.

I’ll go first, I said. Delp, you cover me, and Klasen will take the rear.

Understood, Klasen said.

Delp rolled his eyes. Let’s just get this over with.

I shoved my way through the door, blaster scouring the corridor beyond. Nothing to observe but darkness and the stale scent of vampire.

I followed my weapon into the nest on slow steps.

The demonic half of my sight scraped away the dark, and I saw doors along either wall. They weren’t spaced much farther apart than the asylum cells depicted in all those horror movies, though we were facing more corporeal threats than malevolent spirits.

I gestured at my partners.

They nodded.

We’d all seen the points of potential ambush.

I entered the first one in the same manner as I had the hall.

More nothing.

The next two rooms were similarly devoid of objects or people. Dirt walls and floor limited the options for concealment.

It felt wrong.

Most vampires were out of their beds by this hour, so the lack of inhabitants wasn’t surprising. But their hiding places were usually more personal than this. They had mementos or other artifacts designating each space as unique to its owner, even if their Master had starved them to the point of insanity. If I were a guessing man, I’d say this little hidey hole was temporary lodging.

The fourth room I charged into contained a coffin, sleek wood with gold leaf patterns across the lid about where an occupant’s chest might rest. More gold crawled down its sides. Had I been a betting man, I’d have put down a lung or two that this belonged to the Master.

I gestured to Delp.

He took position, blaster ready to fire.

I shoved the lid.

It scraped over the lip of the coffin. A dull thud announced when it hit the hard-packed soil beneath our feet.

Inside, it boasted pristine upholstery.

Definitely owned by the Master.

I felt along the seams for any hiding places.

A scream echoed down the corridor.

In the doorway, Klasen’s weapon spoke.

Delp and I abandoned the coffin. He made it to Klasen first, his body blurring with speed, and began punching holes in the vampires thrashing down the hallway.

The narrow corridor made felling the feral vamps easier than target practice. But the earlier violence had depleted the ammunition in our weapons.

Delp’s blaster ran dry a moment after mine.

Shit. I popped the magazine free, and tore a replacement from my belt. It slammed home under my palm.

In that short time, the vampires had closed the space between us.

I smashed my free fist into the first available vampire’s jaw, using my blaster to blow open a hole in its chest. Blaster fire snarled around me. I climbed over the body, and attacked the vamps behind it.

Blood and heavier things splashed the walls. I felt the warmth of them slap my face. Gunfire screamed counterpoint to the chorus of vampire screeching. Recoil pulsed up my arm, rubbing things in my shoulder against each other in a way that sent spider feet up my spine. I vibrated with the impact of metal striking flesh. The scent of burning flesh and copper crowded my nose. Vampire flesh sizzled quite nicely in the presence of a blaster round’s plasma fire and super-heated metal core.

I felt the high of making war descend on my body.

All the parts of my brain not needed for battle went quiet, dragging my senses and reflexes into sharper focus. I felt the position of my opponents more than saw them. My muscles whipped through the familiar movement of stirring violence.

Then we broke through their line.

My chest heaved, lungs starved for air.

Damn, Delp said.

Klasen reloaded his blaster. We must be nearing the heart of the den. No expression touched his face, but the fire in his caged aura spat a handful of sparks.

Once I’d gotten enough air, I said, We shouldn’t disappoint the host.

Before we could put those words into action, a low moan rumbled down the hall. Like a burst of air skidding along the sides of a canyon. Three blasters returned to a defensive stance, but there was nothing to see besides the puddle of dead vampires and darkness.

Delp said what we were all thinking. What the hell is that?

I shook my head.

The moan increased in volume, roaring through my skull.

And then it hit us.

A thicker blanket of darkness writhed across every surface of the corridor. It smeared itself over the demonic half of my sight until I couldn’t make out the blaster held ready in front of me.

Shit, I said.

This darkness had substance, weight. It pressed in around me, shoving at my limbs. In the space of moments, I went from fierce alertness to frustrated scrabbling.

The dark tried to force my arms to my sides, and I fought the pressure. I shoved at the encroaching dark and tried to wrench away from the tendrils that had already captured my body. But it was like trying to fight off a tide of gelatin. Darkness oozed through my fingers, and washed over my head. It sealed my eyes, ears, and mouth. The air inside my lungs began to stagnate.

I scraped at the dark veneer, desperate to claw free.

The dark stretched under my fingertips but refused to separate from my flesh.

White spots exploded behind my eyelids.

With each second I struggled, the spots grew until they’d taken over everything.

Then I couldn’t even see that much.

Chapter 2

I peeled my eyes open.

My lungs were on fire, flames licking up my throat. Coughing only intensified the burn. My arms were wrenched up on either side of my head. Both legs were tethered to the ground so my limbs formed the shape of an X.

But I was alive.

Why?

I lifted my chin from my chest to take stock of where I was. Klasen and Delp hung on either side of me, their heads fallen forward as if unconscious. But I saw the slit of Klasen’s eyes, following my example in his own way.

We hung in a great room somewhere farther into the compound. Candles along each wall cast shifting shadows over the surfaces of the room. The black tethers keeping us bound rose out of the bundles of shadow on the floor and ceiling.

Standing in the fall of twisting shadows was a female. Her aura fell around her in a cold sheet of stagnation. A curtain of black hair fell down her back. She wore her violet kimono loose, barely held to her body. Gold designs in the fabric matched the eyes in her pale face. She held one of her hands, palm up, in front of her sternum. Blood pooled in the ivory flesh of her palm.

Her power vibrated in my molars.

You are awake, the vampire said. The even cadence in her voice said she wasn’t surprised.

Had she kept us alive?

When I didn’t answer her statement, she said, You made a grand mess of my home. The words were still calm, but the air around them trembled with her will.

Your pets… I said. My voice had aged to that of a breathless old man. No way to intimidate prey. I cleared my throat. Your pets attacked us, first.

My children do not take kindly to intruders, she said, reaching into the sleeve of her kimono with her free hand. She drew out my blaster and pointed the barrel at my face. And neither do I. Why have you invaded my nest?

The Empress wants the documents you possess, I said.

She just looked at me for a moment. I watched recognition crawl across her blank face. In my experience, it’s never a good thing when a captor realizes I’m not some poor shmuck.

A smile tugged up the corners of her mouth. I thought I knew your face, she said. You are no ordinary fly come into my web.

I stayed silent. My mouth had already led us into dangerous territory.

You are Sven Nulis, the Reaper of Section Seven, she said. A wicked glee lit up her features. This is a much different matter.

Dammit, I hate being right all the time.

Section Seven of the Empirical Police specialized in exterminating those paranormals who violated human law. Thanks to an explosive misunderstanding during a solo mission and my will to survive the encounter, my kill count outstripped all my closest rivals in the division. That one act of survival instinct had earned me a reputation for being something of a paranormal boogeyman.

Thus the nickname.

Nonhumans had one of two reactions to realizing who I was: abject terror and a hunter’s glee. The vampire Mistress appeared to be of the latter variety.

She moved faster than I could see. One moment, her bloodied hand rested in front of her body. The next, her hand was thrown out from her side, spilling blood onto the shadows at her feet.

Power flooded the room.

The shadows claiming my limbs dragged me to the floor, pressing my knees into the wood. Another tendril circled my neck. It pulled against my Adam’s apple until I had to stare up at the Master vampire or be choked.

She stepped forward.

The barrel of my blaster stared me in the face.

My client wishes to know how much information your Empress has, the vampire said. So I cannot kill you just yet.

The blaster shifted to my left and roared.

Pain scalded hot in my shoulder. White-hot metal became lodged in my reinforced bones and made a smoldering coal out of my flesh. I made a low sound in the back of my throat, teeth clamped down over the majority of the groan.

Klasen said my name and gave away his state of consciousness.

Delp was either still comatose or didn’t care nearly as much as our partner.

Is there anything you would like to share? the vampire asked.

I forced a smile to cross my lips. Did you know you have killer split ends?

She hissed at me, and the band of shadow around my neck tightened. It smashed my trachea to a slit. My abused lungs weren’t ready for another round of oxygen keep-away. The fire inside them kindled to life almost immediately. I pulled at the bands keeping my arms shackled. Muscles strained and protested the abuse. Blood roared in my head, feeling like it might burst free.

For all that I accomplished, I might as well have sat quietly and let her strangle me.

When the white spots started to invade my vision again, the band released the pressure on my throat.

I heaved in a ragged breath, coughing as the cold air abraded my scalded lungs.

The vampire waited until I was taking deep, quiet breaths to speak. I do not want to hear your drivel. Unless you have answers for me, I do not want to hear your voice.

We know you have the information, I said.

The vampire slashed her hand through the air. Fury stood out on her pale face. I felt a line of pain cross my cheek, and blood trickled down my skin. This behavior was probably why she’d been assigned the task of guarding the data instead of beating details out of the local cops. If she thought pain was intimidating to an Executioner, she needed to go back to baby vamp school.

I already know that. You wouldn’t be here otherwise, she said. Her face was twisted in a snarl.

I chuckled at her. Do you honestly think the big guys give more information than that to the cleanup crew?

The vampire’s face folded to blankness.

A dark thought crossed my brain.

The smile fell away from my face.

I just knew I wasn’t going to like what she did next.

Her voice could have formed ice chips in the air. If you have nothing to offer me, I am afraid I have no need of you. She raised my blaster again, but it wasn’t pointed at me. The barrel of my weapon was trained on Klasen.

Fucking bitch.

You will die, Sven Nulis, knowing you caused the death of your partners, the vampire said.

Her words sliced through me, down to a squishy, oozing wound in my soul. Faces crawled across my vision, tear-stained and furious. The scent of blood stung in my nose, and phantom pain burned in the stumps that remained of my flesh and blood arms. A high, keening wail rose up in my ears, fighting with the roar of a blaster.

I felt Klasen’s will expand around him. Icy feet crawled down my spine.

And I heard the miniature explosion of the blaster round hitting his shield.

The vampire shrieked her frustration.

Nap time’s over, ladies, I said. My voice sounded like a growl to my ears.

Power flashed into being, crawling up my arms in a spiraling pattern. That power traced the twin dragons branded into the metal of my arms. Their heads rested on the backs of my hands, and the rest of their bodies spiraled up my limbs to my shoulders.

Inside my mind, I stood before two serpentine dragons as they lifted their great heads. Black fire curled around the edges of their lips. Their eyes glowed with bloody light. A collar of steaming metal circled each of their throats. A chain ran from each collar to one of my hands.

Power pulsed over me, dark and sweet, whispering to the darkness living inside me. The beast living in that pool of darkness looked up at me, swirling green eyes alight with lust. A paw reached up to bat at the swirling energy. I forced away the urge to breathe in all that power. I was already too tempted to play with the darkness.

Sensing I wasn’t going to take the risk this time, the twin dragons turned their attention to escaping. That was the nature of our working relationship. If they ever succeeded, I would perish as a fine victory meal. Had some jackass tricked me into being his servant, I’d be pissed, too. But because I was the jackass in this scenario, I couldn’t give them their wish.

They struggled against their leashes, eager fangs snapping around my face. I yanked hard on their leads, curling my hands in the metaphysical chains that bound us together and limiting their movement.

Unable to get a bite whilst incorporeal, the dragons pulled away from my arms, manifesting as beasts of black fire circling my limbs. They snapped their fangs and roared for release. Gathering my will, I pulled the dragonesses back under my control.

The shadows binding me snapped, and I came to my feet.

The Master vampire scrambled away from the fiery dragons until her back hit the wall. Her cold, blank expression had been replaced by stark terror. She clutched my blaster like some part of her thought it would be of any use against the twins.

Drop the weapon, or I’ll turn you into a black smear, I said.

She stalled, body trembling with terror and indecision.

I took a single step toward her.

She made a sound I usually associated with frightened girls and dropped the weapon as if it had turned white hot. What do you want? she asked. Her voice was quiet enough I had to strain to hear her over the crackle of black fire.

Release my partners, I said.

The vampire removed a single hand from her huddle just long enough to pass it through the air. I heard a set of boots hit the floor and a thud. At least I knew for certain Delp was still unconscious, though the fall might have woken him from dreamland.

She stared at me with eyes too wide for her head.

Tell me where the data is, I said.

Something stern passed through her eyes, and I saw her spine straighten the barest of millimeters. I will not. Despite the strength in her eyes, her voice remained weak.

I growled at her.

She flinched away from me, but the determination never left her eyes. I refuse to betray my client.

I felt a smile slide over my lips, and I knew it wasn’t a good smile. How noble of you, I said. But I’m afraid I don’t have time for loyalty. I gathered my will with the intention of sending the twins to enjoy a feast.

The vampire Mistress had other ideas.

I refuse to die here, she said. The words were little more than a whisper, but I felt her will rush out from her body. It sent sharp tingles of awareness down my flesh.

Darkness rose up around me. It formed a cocoon that crowded the twins against my sides.

Black fire lapped at my skin and crackled in my ears. The light of their trapped bodies burned into my corneas, leaving a smear inside my eyelids after each blink.

I felt the darkness ripple.

Dozens of spikes stabbed outward from the crust of shadow.

The dragonesses saved me from the majority of the attack, but enough of the spikes ripped through. One skimmed over my injured shoulder and spilled hot blood down my chest and back. I felt two more graze across my scalp, peeling off a layer of skin as they went. Another splintered against my forearm.

But the one that punched a hole in my thigh tried to bring me down.

A pain sound escaped my mouth, and I felt my metaphysical fingers slip on the chains. The dragons growled in unison. They pulled at their leads, testing the limits of my weakness.

I ground my molars against each other.

And dug my psychic hands into the links of chain. I’m not on the menu today, ladies.

The twins got the hint and quieted again.

Around me, the darkness dribbled away until only the spikes were left. As the shell finished spilling to the floor, I stared into the eyes of the Master vampire.

Her smile ran away the moment she met my gaze.

Horror took its place.

What…how can you still… She didn’t finish the statement, as if saying it out loud somehow made it truer.

You can’t get rid of the Reaper that easily, I said. Girls, I hear the lunch bell. No pasty vampire bitch got to stab me without some major consequences.

Both dragons erupted after the vampire Mistress. Their roars shook the room, and I struggled to hold their leashes with the pain trying to distract me. I could feel blood slither down my body and drip onto the floor at my feet.

I heard Klasen call to me. Sven, are you—?

Stay back, I ordered.

The vampire’s scream stabbed me through the ear. She tried to scramble away, but there wasn’t enough space in the room to flee the hungry dragonesses. And they considered paranormal flesh a special delicacy.

When the sisters caught up to her, the vampire shrieked and begged. The scent of burning flesh invaded my nose, but I refused to look away. I sent the dragons after her, so I could witness her death, though it took considerably longer than putting a bullet in her would have. I watched skin cells boil and blacken. I watched organs rupture under the pressure of steaming body fluids. I watched bones turn to dust.

Only then did I call the dragons back.

Sleep now, I commanded, using the last of my strength to force their obedience. They wriggled and protested, flame bodies trying to twist out from beneath my grasp. I bore down, shoving them back into their den. With a final snarl, the twins became glazed paintings again.

The strain of using the dragons, being shot, and then getting stabbed made my legs tremble, and I let them go out from beneath me.

Part of me was shocked my injured leg had held out as long as it had.

I hit the wood on both knees and concentrated on taking one breath at a time. That was chore enough for now.

Pounding footsteps told me Klasen was running this way, and I let him. I knew when he made it to my side because he always smelled like a freshly broken pine needle. It was a bitter reminder of the place I’d called home for the best three years of my life. The ones I’d spent with my mother in them.

Once he’d stopped moving, I heard the low groan that meant our partner had rejoined the land of the living. Neither of us paid Delp any mind.

Placing a pale hand on my injured shoulder, Klasen asked, Are you all right?

I slid my gaze sideways to look at my partner’s face.

His brows were pinched, making the otherwise smooth skin of his forehead dimple with soft wrinkles. A severe line had replaced the neutral curve of Klasen’s mouth. And the flames inside his cage-like aura had swelled.

I could almost pretend the concern was real.

The metal’s still in there, I said.

Klasen nodded. I will take a look.

A hiss escaped my clenched teeth as he pulled my jacket off my back. The movement of muscle made the wound in my shoulder scream. Because the shirt beneath was already dead from bullet holes and blood, Klasen ripped out the shoulder instead of trying to take it off, too. If I’d had breath enough to do so, I would have thanked him.

Delp whistled long and low, announcing his presence. Looks painful.

"Maybe because it is painful,