Blood Runner

By Jessica Barkley

Lottie does not know what she is doing in a morgue or how she got there. One moment she was on a missionary trip and the next she's waking up finding herself a member of the undead. She has a whole period of time that cannot remember as she tries desperately to stave off her irrational thirst for blood. Armed with only a stake and a cross, she begins piecing back the last few days of her life, hell-bent on slaying the twisted vampires that made her this way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201967536

Book preview

BLOOD RUNNER

––––––––

JESSICA BARKLEY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BLOOD RUNNER

SPOOKY

KILLERS AT SUNDOWN

TRAILER PARK EVIL

KILLING VAN HELSING

POST MORTEM THOUGHTS

THE KIDNAP CLUB

BLOOD RUNNER

JESSICA BARKLEY

Darkness. That was the only thing Lottie saw when she opened her eyes. Somehow the inky blackness was swirling with deep blues and midnight violets. It was more vibrant, richer than it had been before. The smell of cold metal and plastic and stale air choked her. Her fingertips scrambled to find a way out but only collided with very hard, metallic walls. Surges of adrenaline spiked through her body. Lottie balled up her fists and pounded on the wall sealing in her head. To her surprise, the metal proved to be very malleable.

The door burst open as a latch clattered to the tile floor outside of her metal chute. The smell of something else mixed with the air now. It was familiar but hard to place. Lottie pushed herself out of the metal drawer she had been in. Her body was wrapped only in a thin sheet. Something around her toe clicked against the floor. Looking down, she saw a slip of paper tied around her big toe with a string. Was that supposed to be some kind of sick joke? Rolling her eyes, Lottie peeled the toe tag off of her foot. Her eyes scanned the slip of satin paper. Lottie Mendez. Twenty-six. Cause of Death: Exsanguination.

Ha-ha! Very funny, Lyle! Her sarcasm cut across the room like a sharpened blade. A shiver spread over her body making it erupt with tiny bumps.

The room was lit with flickering fluorescent lights. They hummed one, single, annoying tone that ate at her ears. Rows of drawers meant to hold bodies were set into the wall. The door to the one she had been inside was still sprawled on the ground. Metal gurneys were lined against one wall. Surgical tools were stacked on a tray. That was when she recognized the familiar smell she hadn’t been able to place before: Death.

Lottie backed into a wall, knocking some instruments over. Her fingers flicked up to her neck to find the pulse she feared wouldn’t be there. Nothing. Not even a tentative tremor teased at her fingertips. Her mind raced as she tried to conjure up her last memory. It was fuzzy, as if she had been drinking excessively. A crooked smile laughed at her from the corner of her darkened psyche. White teeth glinted angrily. Pain. She remembered pain.

Keys jingled in the lock at the door. Lottie tried to find somewhere to hide, but it was too late. The door to the morgue swung open. She locked eyes with the man in front of her. A half-eaten turkey sandwich dangled from his mouth. The food dropped to the ground as he saw her, leaving behind a yellow smudge of mustard at the corner of his mouth.

What the hell?! He fumbled for his phone.

Lottie ran across room and pinned him to the wall. Her strength surprised her. What is happening to me?

The man choked and tried to pry her fingers away from his throat. You’re, you’re supposed to be dead! I examined you myself! Aw man, my boss is going to kill me. This is the first time I was allowed to examine a body myself. Please, just please, don’t say anything.

Realizing the man wasn’t a threat, she let him go. Questions bubbled out of her mind. How did I get here?

You don’t remember? Well, of course you don’t remember. You were dead.... Or at least almost dead. The police found your body in an alleyway. You had been drained of blood. How...how are you even standing right now? We need to get you upstairs to a doctor.

No. No hospitals. Lottie growled at him.

Well, it might be a little late for that, but it’s your funeral. He smirked a little but soon lost all mirth as he gazed into her flaming eyes. He chuckled nervously. That was a little morgue humor. Sorry about that.

Take off your pants.

What?! I feel like you should at least take me out to dinner first, you know?

I need clothes, idiot!

R-right. Shaking his head, he unzipped his pants and handed them to her. I’m Neal by the way. I feel like I should tell you my name if you’re going to see me without my pants on.

I didn’t ask for your name. Lottie pulled his pants over her hips. The fit was a little loose, but it would work. She jerked a lab coat down from the coatrack by the door and buttoned it up over her torso. Behind the coatrack was a splotchy mirror. She expected to see her typically smoothed back blonde hair and blue eyes gazing back at her, but instead she saw nothing.

Are you okay? You’re not looking so good...

It had happened. It had finally happened. Lottie’s ears hummed with silence. She had always known it was a possibility when she signed up for the Underground Mission. The religious leaders of her order had long known about the creatures of the night. That was why they had special missionaries trained to ‘convert’ them. Everyone knew that it was a more politically correct term for what was actually going on. The only way to truly save a vampire was to kill it. Now, those hideous creatures had taken away the one thing she prized above all else: her humanity.

Hello? Neal waved his hand in front of her face. It broke her concentration.

What?! She snapped at him.

Swallowing hard, he held up his hands defensively. Sorry, you just kind of zoned out there for a moment.

Lottie’s eyes were glued to his neck. His juicy Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. A plump vein pulsed seductively. She blinked hard. No. She had to keep her what little she had left of herself. Feeding wasn’t an option. I need to get out of here. What time is it?

Nine I think.

A.M. or P.M.?

Huh?

Lottie dug her fingernails into her palm, trying to give herself something to focus on other than his pulse. Is it nine in the morning or nine at night?

Night. I just came back to get my wallet. Neal pointed to a worn leather wallet laying on a table.

Good.

As she started to walk away, Lottie heard him call after her. You won’t say anything will you? I really need this job.

I won’t if you won’t. She kept walking. It was clear he had no idea what was really going on. If he could pass it off as a clerical error on his part, then good for him. Most humans rationalized away the existence of anything out of the norm. It made her job easier.

The morgue was in the basement of the hospital. Lottie pressed the elevator button to take her up to the main floor. For the second time since she woke up, a name popped into her head: Lyle. If she had been turned into a vampire, what had happened to her partner? They may have taken her humanity, but they couldn’t take her purpose.

The doors to the elevator opened on the first floor. It was a vampire’s dream. The smell of blood and pending death washed the walls. When she had been alive all she would have smelled was the antiseptic and cleaning products. Now she could smell years of blood that had spilled and seeped into the cracks of the tiles. It called to her. She fought back the urge to seek it out. Instead, she trained her mind to find what would become the weapons of her revenge. The chapel. She needed to find the chapel. As if being called by a choir of angels, an overhead light flickered to life. The light illuminated a doorway. There it was. At the end of the hall.

Lottie grabbed a pillow from an abandoned gurney. Pulling the pillowcase off of it, she discarded the pillow and wrapped the fabric around her hand. If a cross would hurt a vampire, it would hurt her, too now. Her swaddled hand grabbed the crucifixion from the doorway and pried it off of the wall. Even through the fabric, she could feel it stinging her skin. The closest thing she could relate it to was a chemical burn. At first it was hardly noticeable, but the longer she held it, the more it burned. Lottie welcomed the pain. It would help keep her mind clear for what was to come. The next thing she would need would be easier to find. The order had taught them how to make stakes out of pretty much anything on hand.

Ahead of her was an abandoned nurses station. One perk of hospitals being understaffed was that there wasn’t always someone around to watch the desk. Slipping behind the nurse’s station, Lottie grabbed the wooden chair and wrenched one of the legs off of it. The wood splintered beautifully on the end to form a jagged point. Perfect.

Armed, she ducked out of the entrance without drawing too much attention. The world outside seemed to be moving on as if nothing was different. Cars sped past. Teenagers slurped out of fast food straws. Her death had changed nothing. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but she had to make her peace with it—and quickly. Her only solace came from the fact that she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. The streetlights made her head throb. Heels clicked past her. The smell of alcohol drifted on the breeze. Lottie tried to wet her lips, but her mouth was parched and cracking. Every person that walked past her was an accident waiting to happen. She had practiced fasts in the order, but nothing could have prepared her for hunger like this. She needed to get off of the streets and away from so many innocent people.

Struggling to keep herself under control, Lottie staggered towards an alleyway. More flashes drifted through her mind. Lyle slumped over a pile of trash. Blood dripping down someone’s chin. Laughter that she couldn’t place. Her head pounded as she tried to remember more clearly what had happened.

Even in her current state, she needed to rely on her training. Underground. She needed to get underground. Only the young vampires would be out at this time of night. They were considered to be expendable. The best way for her to exact her revenge would be to take out the oldest vampires she could find before they ripped her to shreds. She didn’t plan on making it out of this alive. In her mind, she was already dead.

Lottie slipped her fingers under a manhole cover and lifted it up. The rusted metal was cold but not as heavy as she thought it would be. At the bottom of the drop, she could see the reflective sheen of water. Tightening her grip on the crucifix and the stake she had made, Lottie let herself drop through the hole. A twinge of pain arced through her but ankle for only a second before fading into nonexistence. Her fall echoed down the tunnel. Silently, she cursed her impulsive nature. If she had to guess, that was probably what had led to her death.

Water trickled down the tunnel walls and pooled around her feet. A sixth sense urged her forward. Focusing on her footsteps, Lottie crept down the tunnel. Her eyes adjusted quite quickly to the darkness. It surprised her how at home she felt in the bowels of the city. The world had been turned on its head for her. She had become the one thing she hated the most, the one thing she had sworn to protect humanity from. Pity had no place inside of her anymore, only disgust. A memory from her past filled her senses.

Lottie! Lyle had still had that shaggy haircut even though the order had told him to cut it so many times before. His messy hair and puppy dog eyes made her smile. Are you ready for today?

Is it true? Her heart hammered in her chest. Rumors had been going around the compound, but she was afraid to believe it.

Yeah! They caught one. They said they were going to let one of us stake it. Come on! I don’t want to be late!

She could feel the sun on her skin. His hand slipped into hers and pulled her to a domed building. Exhilaration and happiness flooded her body. She felt alive. There was no other word for it.

Lottie forced herself