The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

I crept down the hallway, my back against the wall and my shoulder protesting every little movement. I ignored it, concentrating on the tingling sense that was Young's presence, wishing I could pin down his location. He was close. That was all I could tell. Which was a fat lot of good if he decided to come at me with the pipe again.

Another board squeaked in the kitchen - and this time, the sound seemed to be moving away. The bastard was trying to get around me again.

Or he was trying to make me think that he was.

Given I wasn't sure, I stayed where I was, my left hand clenched firmly around the laser and my right shoulder aching like hell. Whether this was Young or not, the minute I sensed or scented him, the bastard was dead. Invisible vampires with a murderous bent didn't get second chances - especially not when they'd already tried to kill me.

My, my, an inner voice snarked, haven't you changed your tune since becoming a guardian?

Maybe I had - at least when it came to murdering psychos. But I'd still like to think the trigger-pulling impulse was generally more restrained in me than in my brother. That I wasn't the shoot-first, think-later guardian that Jack wanted me to become.

For several minutes, nothing happened. Sweat began trickling down my spine and I gripped the gun so tightly my hand was beginning to cramp. Not a good thing when holding a laser with the power of this one.

I flexed my fingers in an effort to ease some of the tension. In that moment, air stirred. I glanced to my right, caught a glimpse of a pipe whirring straight at my face, and threw myself down and forward.

I hit the wall opposite with a bone-jarring crunch and, for a moment, saw red as the pain in my shoulder caused a wave of agony that had my head spinning and my stomach twisting. The now-visible pipe hit the wall behind me and clattered to the floor.

I sucked in a breath that did little to ease the blinding ache and, in the process, tasted the foulness of vampire.

A foulness that was getting stronger with every second.

He was coming straight at me.

I dropped low and spun, lashing out with a foot. Saw a blur of washed-out color leap over it, then he was on me, hitting like a ton of bricks, the sheer weight of his attack forcing me backward. I hit a doorframe hard, and the pain in my shoulder intensified. Sweat broke out across my forehead and all I wanted to do was throw up. I swore and kicked out as hard as I could instead. My foot hit something solid, and there was a sharp crack.

"Bitch!"

The word stung the air, filled with venom. Then his weight left me, and suddenly his scent was fading again.

I pulled the laser's trigger. The bright beam shot out, slicing the air in front of me and continuing on, through another doorway before shattering yet more plaster and wood.

I didn't hit Young, but just for an instant, I caught a glimpse of a gaunt, ghostly face, thin lips stretched back into a snarl and yellowed canines glistening. I fired again.

Missed again.

Then he was gone, and the sense of wrongness retreated.

I was losing him.

I swore and pushed off the doorway, but the sudden movement had pain burning through every nerve ending and sent the room spinning around me. I grabbed at the wall to steady myself and took several slow, deep breaths. God, it felt like my whole damn shoulder had just gone into a spasm and it fucking hurt.

But I couldn't just stand here. I had to move, had to go after Young, no matter how much agony I was in. I couldn't let him get away.

I carefully shifted my sore arm and cradled it with my left, giving it some support as I walked forward. Young's scent was already drifting, dispersing on the air. What the hell was going on? How could a young vampire - and I still had no doubt that he was young - move around in sunlit rooms so easily?

And how the fuck could he be invisible?

That wasn't any vampire power I'd heard of. But then, I wasn't exactly up on vampire law and history. There could be a dozen different types of suckers, for all I knew. The emos had certainly been a surprise.

I followed the tenuous scent forward. It led straight out the door and into the sunshine. Any normal vampire would have burned right there and then, but not Young. I followed his trail out the gate and down the street, until the rising wind tore the trail apart and left me with nothing.

I'd lost him.

God, this day was not going well.

I sat down on a brick fence and carefully let go of my arm so I could press the com-link in my ear.

"Hello, anyone out there?"