Night Slayer: Blood of the Vampire Hunter Book One

By ID Johnson

The odds are stacked against her--just how she like it....
After the Revelation, when Vampires around the world came forward and disclosed themselves to the world, the Hunters and Guardians that had fought in the shadows to defend humanity were also exposed—and hunted down, enslaved, destroyed, and sent into hiding.
Jo McReynolds, the daughter of the most powerful Vampire Hunter to ever live, continues to slay bloodsuckers in the night. After the mysterious disappearance of her mother and a series of conflicts with the rest of her family, Jo is out on her own, and that’s fine with her. Because she doesn’t need anyone but herself.
But the others need her. When her team gets a tip as to the whereabouts of the Vampire responsible for the disappearance of Jo’s mom, her family wants her back. No one can kill bloodsuckers like Jo McReynolds. Saying she’s sorry and coming back to the fold will be difficult, and she’s not sure she even wants to go—but finding this Vampire might reveal what really happened to her mother, so Jo accepts.
With Jo as part of the team, can they track down the Vampire and discover what happened to her mother? Is it possible to rid the earth of Vampires once and for all and restore the Hunters and Guardians to their former glory—or will Jo and her team end up captured or destroyed like so many of their colleagues?
This new series, Blood of the Vampire Hunter, continues the story from The Clandestine Saga with some brand new characters you’re sure to love and some familiar faces from the previous series. You do not need to have read The Clandestine Saga to love Blood of the Vampire Hunter. 
Blood of the Vampire Hunter is darker than the previous series with more intense language, gore, and some steamy scenes. 
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: ID Johnson
• Release date: Feb 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9791220266512

ID Johnson

ID Johnson wears many hats: mother, wife, editor, tutu maker, and writer, to name a few. Some of her favorite people are the two little girls who often implore that she "watch me!" in the middle of forming finely crafted sentences, that guy who dozes off well before she closes her laptop, and those furry critters at the foot of the bed at night. If she could do anything in the world, she would live in Cinderella's castle and write love stories all day while sipping Dr. Pepper and eating calorie-less Hershey's kisses. For now, she'll stick to her Dallas-area home and spending her days with the characters she's grown to love. After 16 years in education, Johnson has embarked on a new career, one as a full-time writer. This will allow her to write at least one book per month, which means many of your favorite character will have new tales to tell in the upcoming months. Look for two spin-off series of The Clandestine Saga, one staring Cassidy Findley and another involving backstories for your favorite characters. Johnson will also produce several new historical romance novels and a new sweet contemporary Christian romance series as well.

Book preview

thought.

Chapter 1

Jo McReynolds brought her motorcycle to a stop outside what she could only assume was supposed to be a gas station of some sort, though by the looks of it, the establishment hadn’t been used for that purpose for at least the last few years. Trash overflowed out of the garbage receptacles on either side of the door. The lights inside flickered through dirt-covered, smudged windows, competing with lightning in the distance to illuminate the cracked asphalt parking lot and the corroded gas pumps out front. She put her kickstand down, checked her weapon was still strapped securely to her back, and swung her leg over the seat.

This would’ve been easier if she had brought a Guardian with her, but most of the time, Jo preferred to work alone, especially in the last year or so when the situation with her so-called team had gone from bad to worse. It was hard to believe there had ever been a time when Vampires lurked in the shadows, and Hunters and Guardians were able to keep an ignorant human population out of harm’s way, but Jo did vaguely remember what that had been like. She was barely fifteen when all of that had changed. Now, she was more of an outlaw than the bloodsuckers she hunted.

She put those thoughts aside as her boots crunched over broken glass. She needed to be quiet if she was going to have any element of surprise, though she had no idea whether or not the Vampires she had caught wind were staying here were capable of sniffing her out. A churning in her gut let her know she wasn’t alone, that the phantoms were inside the rickety building. More than one of them, though she didn’t know exactly how many, would await her entry. She’d have to be quick in order to get rid of them and flee the scene before the authorities showed up. Vampire Hunting was illegal, and the last thing Jo wanted was to end up in jail--again.

Her weapon of choice was a modified Glock. It had a built in silencer, and the barrel was elongated so that the velocity of the silver bullets she fired would penetrate Vampire bone and flesh deeper and quicker than anything on the market. These bullets were different, too. Since silver bullets had been outlawed in ’42, just two years after the first Vampire was elected president, she’d relied on a secret black market of former LIGHTS members to get her what she needed. Sometimes the bullets worked; sometimes she had to pull her knife and end things the messy way.

Cameras likely wouldn’t be a problem here, though they were an obstacle she had to account for. It was obvious this old building had no exterior surveillance system, and she doubted there were working cameras inside either. Still, her fingers automatically went to a device in an interior pocket of her jacket, and she pressed a button that would send out a signal meant to interfere with any video recording or transmissions. Major Christian Henry might be a nutcase, but he was good at inventing the tools necessary to combat the growing threat. And despite the rumors she’d heard about the Major’s past, Jo figured it was as much her own parents’ fault Henry had lost his mind as anyone else’s.

Where are you? Her brother’s voice in her head was an invasion of privacy Jo wished she could turn off. At least they no longer had the annoying video capabilities they’d had before the Revelation, back when the Intelligence Assistance Communicator was fully-functioning. Now, it was more of a faint phone call one received directly into their head, rather than a multi-dimensional technological device that could allow members of LIGHTS to coordinate movements thousands of miles away from each other. Since the US government, as well as several other nations, were purposely jamming any signals sent over the frequencies the IACs were designed to use, they were lucky if they worked at all. Most of the time, it was just an annoying blip in Jo’s eye that allowed her to see the time without looking at her watch. In other countries, they were still fully functioning, but not in this part of Colorado.

I’m at home, nuking a Hot Pocket, Jo replied, not at all interested in telling her nosy older brother what she was up to. As far as she knew, he was still a couple of states away, back in Kansas City, trying to figure out a way for their team to reestablish itself. It was a nice thought, one their father was passionate about, but Jo had given up hope the day President Vincent Crimson—not his given name—took office. She’d taken off a few weeks later, headed west, to where Vampire Hunting was slightly safer thanks to the lower human population that had been a direct result of the Free Choice movement, and hadn’t looked back.

I know you’re not home, Cadon replied as Jo approached the front door of the convenience store, her weapon drawn.

How do you know? She readied herself for entry, thinking she’d kick through the door and start shooting as soon as the first bloodsucker showed itself.

Because I’m standing in your living room.

Shit, Jo mumbled, hoping it didn’t transmit. "Why are you in my house?"

Why are you not in your house? Jo are you on a hunt?

She had no time to answer that question. Movement on the other side of the dirt-streaked glass let her know she’d been spotted. Ignoring her brother, Jo raised a black boot waist high and kicked through the glass door, the strength from one blow knocking the steel frame in, bending the setting, and sending a spray of glass shards flying into the air that covered the floor all the way back to the soda machines in the far corner.

Can’t talk now, Jo said, flinging herself through the opening, her weapon already lighting up the area between herself and rows of food stuffs with a soft blue glow. I’ll be home soon.

Son of a bitch, Cadon muttered, but Jo was too busy aiming at Vampires to hear him. A flurry of motion in front of her let her know she was in for more than she’d bargained for, but she wasn’t concerned. Jo McReynolds had never faced a Vampire she couldn’t take on, and if this night proved to be the first, she wasn’t concerned about that either.

Chapter 2

The first bloodsucker went down easy enough with a quick blast from Jo’s Glock, which gave her hope that these were old school Vampires, the kind that died quickly with a bullet or two, not the reengineered kind that had showed up a few days after the Revealing, and certainly not the pesky Souled kind that they’d discovered the year before Jo was born. No, with any luck, all of these dirt bags would turn out to be good ol’ fashioned bloodsuckers and fall down dead like good boys and girls with a blast of her weapon. She’d find out quickly enough.

A spray of ash from the first one, and a scream from a few others who were either so startled at her sudden appearance or just timid by nature, gave Jo the few seconds she needed to aim at the shadows and send a woman with long, scraggily black hair into oblivion.

From her right, a thin specter rushed her, his long claws reaching for her face. Jo whirled around, raising her knee and catching him under the ribs while she pointed her Glock, shooting at him quickly and then taking aim at another form flying in her direction. This one, an older woman with gray hair and a few extra pounds, almost made contact before Jo could aim her gun again. She shot twice, but the granny didn’t go down. An elbow to the throat, and a fist to her face sent the monster flying into a metal shelving unit, her arms flailing and her dress showing her large white panties beneath the floral print. Jo fired again, turning the would-be matronly murderer into black char.

The other guy was down but not out. He lay groaning on the ground, holding his shoulder. Damn, I missed, Jo muttered, placing her thick black boot on his neck and ignoring his pleas as she fired into his head. Not this time, she said as the sole of her boot thunked on the dingy, off-white linoleum, skidding in the pile of ash that occupied what used to be the outline of the Vampire.

Turning her head, she surveyed the store. It was dark, and while her eyes cut through shadows better than humans’ and most Vampires’ she still had a feeling she wasn’t alone. In the distance, she caught the wail of sirens and muttered another curse word, thinking someone must’ve heard the struggle, though they wouldn’t have detected the gunfire, not with this silencer on. She hated to leave her business unfinished, especially if there were a Vampire in the building who could ID her, so she took a chance and headed toward the swinging doors near the soda machines to have a look around in the back.

It didn’t take her long to find what she was searching for. Crouched in the corner, his arms over his head, a Vampire knelt in what smelled like a puddle of his own urine. Get up, she insisted, pointing her Glock at his head. It wasn’t that she needed to see his face before she shot him; for some reason, she felt the need to, the longing to make eye contact with every single one of these bastards she laid out. There was an atonement in that she couldn’t quite put into words; it was almost as if looking into their eyes before she killed them gave her a small part of her own soul back.

He didn’t look at her though. Keeping his arm over his balding head, he whimpered. Please.... His voice broke. What you’re doing is illegal.

So is sucking the blood from innocent humans! Jo retorted. Or at least it used to be! Before President Crimsoncrotch and his cronies took office. Look. At. Me.

Slowly, the monster lowered his arm, revealing the steel grey eyes that assured Jo one pull of her trigger would end him. She didn’t hesitate. As he opened his eyes to make another plea for his life, her finger flinched, pulling back the tiny piece of metal that let fly a larger projectile, this one exploding between his eyes and leaving him staring into her own blankly for a half a second before he dissipated into a pile of black ash, mingled with piss.

Jo took a deep breath, glad the uneasiness in her gut was settling down. She was alone now, all of the Vampires sent to wherever the hell Vampires went when they were ended. At one point, she thought she knew where that was, but with everything that had happened over the last ten years, she had long since realized she had no idea. And there was no time to stand there and contemplate it either.

The sirens were drawing closer, and that ominous red and blue light reflected off the formerly shiny, silver surfaces outside as Jo punched her Glock back into its holster and sprinted for the door and her waiting bike. She was much faster than any human, thanks to a second and then third round of Transformation serum (the latter of the two something she’d decided to give herself one day while she was fooling around at Scott’s parents’ house, an act for which her father would’ve probably killed her if he were capable of doing so) and her engine was souped-up to the point it would be able to outrun anything the cops or the military had available. That didn’t mean she wanted to stand around and scratch her ass and wait for them to get closer.

She was on her bike, tearing out of the parking lot, headed the opposite direction from where she’d seen the lights in a matter of seconds. Just when she was about to slow down and breathe a little, she realized she was headed toward what appeared to be an unmarked, black SUV. Son of a bitch, Jo muttered, wishing she had bothered to take the time to put her helmet on so that, if that was in fact a cop—or worse—headed her direction, they wouldn’t be able to identify her. But with her long black braids and blue eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, if the occupants had gotten a glimpse of her through any sort of scope or magnification device, they’d definitely know who she was. She didn’t dare get any closer. Instead, she skidded around the next corner, a full block ahead of them, and gunned the engine, praying they didn’t turn down the same dark street she’d chosen.

Behind her, Jo heard the squeal of tires and cursed again. A quick turn of her head let her know the SUV was coming—and fast.

Chapter 3

Even though it was late, there was a busy crossroad ahead of Jo, and she knew she was going to have to at least bring her bike to a low throttle, if not stop completely, in order to safely make her way across what used to be an Interstate Highway. Since the Vampires had basically claimed much of this part of town, most of the humans who lived here didn’t ever come to these parts, or if they did, they did so in the daylight. Still, no matter who or what was driving the cars up ahead, there were more of them than Jo had collectively seen in the last few minutes since this was a major artery that cut through the center of Denver, so she couldn’t rush into oncoming traffic despite the fact that the black SUV behind her was closing at an ungodly rate.

Taking her eyes off of the asphalt ahead of her Jo looked over her shoulder. How was it the SUV was possibly closing? Goddamnit! She whirled back around and considered pressing even harder on the throttle, taking her safety into her hands and challenging her bike to a game of Frogger, but she knew how much this motorcycle originally cost and how hard it was to get parts for now that the government had banned almost every vehicle LIGHTS had ever relied on, so she did the only smart thing she could and slowed down.

Traffic did not cooperate, and by the time Jo darted across the makeshift intersection, woven through what used to be the median, the SUV was close enough that she could smell the exhaust. A flicker of something came over her IAC, but she couldn't catch it and imagined it was just her annoying older brother messing with her. The SUV would have to be more careful cutting across the highway and through what wasn’t actually a road, so she hoped to put some more space between them, but when she finally met concrete again, whirling her bike into a tailspin as she took a corner down an alley she’d used often when cutting through this neighborhood, the black vehicle seemed to have somehow gotten even closer to her. Whoever these people were, they had some tech. It was the only explanation she had for how they could keep up with her bike. She imagined they had to be FBI, CIA, or the new patrol VEC, Vampire Enforcement Center, President Crimson’s branch that made sure everyone played nice to his kind. Whoever they were, she didn’t want to tangle with them.

And yet, the faster she went, the closer they got. Her bike was already pushing way past 200, and she knew there was another sharp corner coming up ahead if she wanted to maintain her usual route, not that it was probably wise to head back home with these jackasses on her tail. Jo looked around, trying to figure out another direction to go when another IAC message flickered across her eye. "Where are you going?"

It wasn’t her brother this time, though it was a relation of sorts. Puzzled, Jo lost concentration for a second and nearly spun her front tire out when it contacted the edge of a manhole cover sticking up from the road. She corrected the bike, letting off the gas as she did so, and made a sharp right, but by the time she turned the corner, the SUV was on top of her, and as the black vehicle spun in front of her, turning sideways to cut her off, she had no choice but to stop the bike or jump it.

If she was still carrying the speed she’d had before, prior to the manhole cover getting in her way, she wouldn’t have thought twice. But now, at less than 70, she would never make it. Jo slid sideways as she brought the bike to a halt, surveying her options. She wouldn’t be taken alive again if she could help it--but then if these guys weren’t Vampires, they wouldn’t be able to kill her. And she’d promised her father she wouldn't kill any more federal agents.

The back door of the SUV flew open, and Jo instinctively pulled her gun. She recognized the burly man instantly and dropped the point of her weapon. What the hell…?

He had his hands up, like he thought she might shoot him. Jo--is your IAC not workin’? Why the hell you runnin’ from us?

I thought…. She shook her head. No, it’s not working. Not really. She looked behind her, glad she didn’t see anyone else in pursuit, the red and blue lights long gone. What are you doing here?

We need to chat.

Why not meet me at my apartment?

He shrugged, and the front door opened, another familiar face making her gulp down air as the woman walked toward her. I’ll take your bike, she said. Get in the SUV.

It seemed like more of an order than a request, and even though she hadn’t felt like part of a team in as long as she could remember, she put the kickstand down, turned off the engine, and got off, leaving the key in the ignition for her aunt.

A glare was all she got as the woman said nothing and walked past, staring at Jo like she couldn’t believe what she’d become. Jo had no answer for that either. She headed for the SUV, not at all surprised that she was being offered the back seat. Shaking her head, she moved past the door. Not even a hello hug then? he asked, scoffing at her.

Jo closed the door without answering, and he blew out a hot breath before he climbed into the passenger seat next to his son. See ya at Jo’s, he hollered out the window to Aunt Cass and then Uncle Brandon Keen punched the gas, and Jo folded her arms in defiance as her Funcle Elliott Sanderson turned to look at her one more time before shaking his head again and staring out the window at what was left of the Denver cityscape.

Chapter 4

It was no surprise that Aunt Cassidy was already sitting in her living room by the time Brandon found a parking spot in an inconspicuous location a few blocks away from Jo’s apartment building. Cassidy had no doubt parked in Jo’s parking spot in the garage at the rear of the building whereas the three of them were forced to traipse through the streets a good distance. They’d been hampered by the fact that they had to walk like regular people, rather than the