Killers by Megan Duffey (self help books to read .TXT) 📖

/> It had been four hours since Michael had thought that. The sun was setting and casting an orange glow. Mason’s brow furrowed in confusion as he turned around and looked at Michael expectantly. The vampire shrugged again, answering Mason’s unspoken question. The answer was the same.

He smelled nothing.

“Maybe we should have waited on Aria.” Mason suggested.

Aria. Her name made Michael tense as he gave up and started walking back to Jefferson hospital. The buildings exterior was plain and cold. The morgue had to be more colorful than this building. Not many people were there but every once in a while he’d heard the sirens of the ambulance. On the way back Mason was talking about calling Aria.

“Leave her alone and let her have a good time, she doesn’t look like she ever gets to.”

“So you’ve noticed. Will showing up is probably the best thing that’s happened to her in a…long time.” There it was again. The secret that made both of them the way they are. The one that made Aria mean and cold and what made Mason the way he was. Aria wasn’t the only unusual one. Mason was the warm hearted one who could cheer her up but deep down knew that his sister had a big burden to carry. Michael couldn’t help but to feel sorry for them, even if he was suppose to be a cold and heartless vampire.

“How does she know him?”

Mason grinned. “When she was in high school she dated him.”

Michael tensed again. Of course, he should have known. The way she smiled was not friendly, more intimate.

“And I had to tell him some lie to help her out. Telling someone that you kill evil creatures of the night is kind of…”

“Insane?” Michael offered.

He nodded and took out his phone. Someone had text him. Humans and their stupid little cell phones. Those things annoyed the hell out of Michael. Or any technology really--except for the television, he kind of enjoyed that. But he still missed actual plays on stages. To him, that would have been something he normally would have done. But things had changed, much to his disappointment.

Then Aria called.

“Mason, you don’t listen very well do you?” His eyes widened as he turned around. There she was with her hands on her perfect hips and a frown on her beautiful face. She flipped her phone and stood there. Aria had the element of surprise--even on Michael, a vampire with heightened senses.

“I didn’t expect you. What happened to your date?”

Michael clenched his jaws as she smiled. But the smile vanished just as quickly. “Did you find anything?” she asked looking around the sterile hospital. Avoiding questions…something must have happened.

They arrived back at Michael’s house. Mason slumped onto the vampire’s black leather couch and Aria had went back up to her room to do something. Michael sat on the couch with Mason as he rubbed his temples and was deep in thought.

“I don’t get it. Will was at work on the night the vampire came…” Mason muttered.

“Ever thought maybe he went somewhere after work?” Michael asked going to the kitchen to get himself a red beverage. As soon as the warm liquid touched his lips he felt better. Energized yet calm. The ultimate high for a vampire, well, unless it was a human he was feeding from. An urge for human flesh went through him. Fresh blood, was way better than the stuff he’s been drinking since the Warriors had invaded his home.

“I thought ahead of you, Michael. I called the hospital, he was there the whole night.” He replied.

“Hey, for all you know he could have went to a strip club after work. If I worked in that boring place that’s where I’d be going.” Mason laughed and shook his head. Aria descended down the stairs and entered the living room.

“Okay perverts, we gotta go.” They turned and looked at her in confusion. She was dressed in a tight black shirt and a short black skirt and to complete her look she was wearing her black boots. Her black hair hung against her back. Michael’s fangs popped out.

“Do I look hot to you, Michael?” She put her hands on her hips and spun around. She looked like she was joking but then her face went back to serious and he knew she was being sarcastic. “Fangs back in or I cut them off.”

He obeyed her immediately, knowing she probably would. Usually, he would have been in the mood to harass her. But since the incident earlier today, he didn’t think it was such a good idea to mess with her. “Aria, you’ve accomplished looking like a stripper,” Mason says, “but what the hell are you doing now?” Dirty thoughts of Aria as a stripper entered Michael’s mind. He wondered what she’d look like in red. He’d fed off of strippers before; their blood was tainted somehow. By consuming to many cigarettes, alcohol, and most of the time, drugs. And then again, they were definitely not virgins. Still, they were tasty in their own way. Dressing like that though, really is what Michael liked best.

“We’re going to Nightlife. I want to see the newly turned vampire and see if she has any useful information since you idiots couldn’t find any. I told you to wait and you went right ahead and went against my orders.” She chastised. Mason looked like it was perfectly normal for her to react like this. To Michael, the way she was chastising them, made him want to laugh. He managed a smile and Aria glared at him. So much for not harassing her.

Aria drove this time. She sped down the roads and Mason had warned her that she’d probably get pulled over. Her response was, “Mason, I’m not in the mood to talk right now.” He looked at his sister worriedly. He’d asked her if she was alright but they’d pulled into the parking lot of the club and she didn’t answer.

“I’m summoning my clan, I want to see if they know anything.” Michael says as they walk in. He thought it was a good idea. Aria ignores him, and Mason nods slightly following his sister.

“Master,” they say as they enter the backroom at the nightclub. The pale figures enter and then he slams the door shut. The clan silences immediately. Their pale faces looked at him expectantly.

“Are any of you aware,” he says coldly, “of the murders recently? Oh wait, their not murders, their Changes!” He snaps at them. They are rigid with fear as Michael glares at them. Still, their was silence.

“Do you know who did this?” Each word he said was with anger.

“Master, perhaps it is the mainstreaming vampires?” One of them said, it was Vanessa. She was one of his youngest ones; almost too young, he thought sadly. Of course, he didn’t Turn her. It was the Leader before him who’d turned so many. Her blue eyes were filled with terror but she’d spoken up. Her courage is what made Michael like her so much.

“Mainstreamers. I hadn’t thought of that, Vanessa.” She bowed and then the place was silent again. Vanessa was only Mason’s age. Her blonde hair and blue eyes made her look innocent and vulnerable. He remembered the night his Leader had turned her. She had been found in an alley, barely alive. A gang member had stabbed her repeatedly. But when she was turned, Michael had helped her go after the gang who’d ended her human life. She’d always been Michael’s favorite. Almost like a father to her. He remembered her crying as their Leader had told her she was a vampire. She was probably the only one worthy of respect in the bunch.

“Arthur and Daniel, your going to watch the mainstreamers for now on. When they come in for a feeding, make small talk. Do not let them know we might be on to them.” They nodded. Arthur and Daniel were a little younger than Michael in vampire years. He’d met them while in France a few hundred years ago and they’d followed him here. He’d summoned them to be in his new clan when he was made Leader. The two were also brothers, and they reminded him a lot of Aria and Mason. They way one moved and the other followed, the protective natures.

“As for the rest of you, if I found out that you know something and have not told me, there will be serious consequences.” They knew Michael wasn’t harsh on punishment except for when they’d killed purposely. Accidents always happened with the newly turned ones. He dismissed them soon after but Vanessa had stayed. She waited until the others were gone before smiling shyly.

“Vanessa, how have you been?” Even when they had a different Leader, the girl had always gone to Michael when she had problems. Rather it was not being able to stop feeding or just emotional distress caused by the Change, he’d been there for her.

“Very good, Michael. I was wondering…the boy who was here the other night. The blonde one…”

Michael smiled at her. “Yes, he’s a Warrior. I told you after some time you’d be able to sense it.”

She laughed nervously. This was the way Vanessa was, always shy. Even if she’d known him for years. “And the girl, she’s a Warrior too?”

Michael tensed. Not because of Vanessa, but because of they way she said “the girl”. “Yes, she’s one too. I’m helping them with a case.”

The shy girl smiled suspiciously.

He didn’t have time to reply because Mrs. Night came in. “Tell that little bitch that she just can’t come in here and--”

Aria ran in, knife in hand, Mason trailing behind her. He also had a weapon. “Michael, we gotta go. The new vampire isn’t here.” Her breath was ragged as if she’d been running.

“She escaped,” Mason exclaimed.

Chapter Five

“Must you cause so much trouble Aria? Or do you just like to have a grand entrance?” He was standing beside another vampire who neither Mason nor Aria had met. One of his clan members, Mason thought.

And she was beautiful.

Her long blonde hair streamed down her back in almost a too perfect way. The blueness of her eyes reminded him of the sea. Although she was slightly slender compared to Aria, she made up for it with those eyes. God, he could get lost in them. Her lip was quivering--slightly. Not enough for a human to be able to see but Mason wasn’t human. Her complexion didn’t have one blemish, not one whatsoever. The paleness of her skin made her look peaceful, and one look at her gave you an overwhelming serenity. She was a vampire. A beautiful, angelic, vampire. How was that even possible?

Mason’s heart beat so fast he was sure that the vampires could hear it.

“You’re one to talk, bloodsucker.” His sister’s raised voice brought him out of his trance and he looked away from the girl, blushing slightly. Oh dear God, he thought.

“This is not a time to quarrel, Aria. Leave him alone,” her brother snapped.

“Fine,” she said looking at Michael, who was smirking at her, “I’ll kill him later.” He cocked his head to the side, no doubt thinking of some way to annoy his sister even more. At times it was funny, but now? With a newly turned vampire on the loose? No.

“Michael, as