Prologue
We are tasked with the hunt, for none but the slayer is trained to eliminate the evil that stalks through the night—and eliminate we must.
We are tasked with secrecy, for the power of the slayer comes from its anonymity.
We are tasked with loyalty, for to be a slayer is to belong to a sect that protects and shields itself over all others.
We are tasked with brotherhood, for while the slayer hunts alone, we know that we are not alone.
We are tasked with truth, for a slayer hunts honestly and with integrity.
— The Slayer’s Code, established 1897
* Added to the copy hanging in Boone Matthews’s office by Tabby Winslow, age 16.
1
The bastard was quick.
Good thing Adam Wright was just a little bit quicker.
Glancing down at the blade by his side, summer wind ruffling his blond hair, cheeks rippling from his speed, he tore down the backstreets of Grayson, hot on the heels of his murderous quarry.
Ever since he started that evening’s hunt, he kept his weapon engaged. Instead of the six-inch-long silver dagger it usually appeared as, once he triggered the magic, it turned into a pointed sword close to a foot-and-a-half in length. Gripping it tightly in both hands, he kept it angled it so that he wouldn’t accidentally stab any stray civilians as he ran while, at the same time, he could easily see if the color changed.
A scarlet glow edged around the honed blade, fading by the time it reached the ornately carved hilt.
Scarlet.
Red.
Nightwalker.
Not just any Nightwalker, though. As one of the human-turned-vampires, if Adam pointed the sword at himself, the scarlet glow would swiftly turn to silver. Like his newly changed eyes, silver represented a Nightwalker’s magic. Blue meant human. Gold belonged to the shifters. White was more unusual since there weren’t too many Othersiders in the area. Plenty of purple for witches.
But red? Red told him that he was dealing with a vampire in the throes of bloodlust.
And his enchanted weapon was never wrong.
It still amazed him that he lucked on the knife. The night he was turned, the night the former Nightwalker king force-fed him his blood before initiating the change, Julian Koenig drew the weapon against a shifter threat. By the time Colton Wolfe ripped off Julian’s head for daring to try and claim Colt’s mate for his own, Adam had been left for dead. He survived—though he was still bitter at that fact—and the first thing he did when he got out of Grayson General was sneak down to evidence and steal the dagger from the box storing it.
Because his attack was considered more of a paranormal issue, his squad had shunted it to the side. They didn’t need the evidence.