Dark Hunter by Shannan Albright
Authors: Shannan Albright
Tags: Romance, Literature & Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Vampires, Mythology & Folk Tales, Fairy Tales
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DARK HUNTER
Dark Breed Enforcers, 3
Shannan Albright
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
March
The sounds of old town Las Vegas filtered through the air as the door to The Asp opened, seeming louder due to the lack of noise inside. Only blocks away from the Fremont Experience, music mingled with the voices of hundreds tourists.
The small bar sat on a run-down street, an empty lot on one side and an old shack of a house on the other. A neon sign in vivid green and blue glowed in the dark shadows of the night, the image of a fanged serpent flowing between the letters of the name held a wealth of meaning to the owner of the establishment.
An icy bit of wind accompanied the discordant sounds, and the flames of the candles on the tables wavered as the gust moved through the room. Winter’s chill hand still held the high desert region in its firm grip, refusing to relinquish its reign. The door made a soft thunk , dimming the outside noise to a mere whisper, and the ancient heater kicked into overdrive to warm the room.
The inside was dim , encouraging shadows to gather into the corners and cling to the red leather booths, which ran down one wall and half of another. The long mahogany bar ran down the other side of the room near a single door, which led into a long hall of rooms. A dance floor graced the back near a raised dais where a DJ spun tunes on the weekends. But this was not the weekend and the bar stood almost empty with only a handful of regulars.
Mari Ankamunan poured a whiskey neat for the were and took his money. Business as usual. Yeah, right . The breeds teetered on the precipice of mass extinction and here she stood pouring drinks and chatting it up with her patrons as if nothing in the world had changed.
Everything changed, and for the worse.
The days of living undetected amongst humans had come to a violent end the past summer when some unknown entity destroyed the governors of the dark breed world known as the Tribunal. With the breeds plastered on every news channel all over the world, the enforcers who kept the breed laws and dispersed justice were at a loss. A whole new world engulfed them. One filled with blood, death, and betrayal.
Since that bloody day, humans filled with hate had made it their mission to destroy all breeds. No one was immune, not even her. She refused to look at the door leading to the rooms where her vampire customers went to feed. The memory of her bouncer sprawled against the door frame, his head cradled in his hands flashed across her mind and she shuddered. She shook her head to dislodge the bloody image. Death had come into The Asp only a month ago, and the heavy pall of fear still hung in the air, thick and ominous. Mari tried not to dwell, tried not to remember the mind-numbing fear she’d felt as the purists led everyone into the back rooms. Thank the gods the night had just begun and few were in the bar that night, or it could have been worse, but not by much.
Without warning they’d seized two of Marcus Valerian’s enforcers unawares. She’d tried desperately to block out the sight of the men bound to chairs with silver chains, the odor of flesh sizzling as they bit into unprotected skin. The agonized sounds of Christophe and Cody’s torture still brought bile crawling up her throat.
Mari owed her friend Marcus, leader of the enforcers, her life. Being powerless to help his men shamed her. The memory of their suffering filled her with a hopeless rage. A burning need for retribution was not new to her, yet it made her uncomfortable all the same. It brought back a shit-load of painful memories best forgotten. Of a life before she turned vampire. Her life in Egypt as Cleopatra’s handmaiden flashed in her mind, cut short by an asp all because her queen demanded her handmaidens die with her. Most people born slaves would have been honored to rise to such a position. Not her. She wanted the freedom to make her own decisions.
Waking as a
Dark Breed Enforcers, 3
Shannan Albright
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
March
The sounds of old town Las Vegas filtered through the air as the door to The Asp opened, seeming louder due to the lack of noise inside. Only blocks away from the Fremont Experience, music mingled with the voices of hundreds tourists.
The small bar sat on a run-down street, an empty lot on one side and an old shack of a house on the other. A neon sign in vivid green and blue glowed in the dark shadows of the night, the image of a fanged serpent flowing between the letters of the name held a wealth of meaning to the owner of the establishment.
An icy bit of wind accompanied the discordant sounds, and the flames of the candles on the tables wavered as the gust moved through the room. Winter’s chill hand still held the high desert region in its firm grip, refusing to relinquish its reign. The door made a soft thunk , dimming the outside noise to a mere whisper, and the ancient heater kicked into overdrive to warm the room.
The inside was dim , encouraging shadows to gather into the corners and cling to the red leather booths, which ran down one wall and half of another. The long mahogany bar ran down the other side of the room near a single door, which led into a long hall of rooms. A dance floor graced the back near a raised dais where a DJ spun tunes on the weekends. But this was not the weekend and the bar stood almost empty with only a handful of regulars.
Mari Ankamunan poured a whiskey neat for the were and took his money. Business as usual. Yeah, right . The breeds teetered on the precipice of mass extinction and here she stood pouring drinks and chatting it up with her patrons as if nothing in the world had changed.
Everything changed, and for the worse.
The days of living undetected amongst humans had come to a violent end the past summer when some unknown entity destroyed the governors of the dark breed world known as the Tribunal. With the breeds plastered on every news channel all over the world, the enforcers who kept the breed laws and dispersed justice were at a loss. A whole new world engulfed them. One filled with blood, death, and betrayal.
Since that bloody day, humans filled with hate had made it their mission to destroy all breeds. No one was immune, not even her. She refused to look at the door leading to the rooms where her vampire customers went to feed. The memory of her bouncer sprawled against the door frame, his head cradled in his hands flashed across her mind and she shuddered. She shook her head to dislodge the bloody image. Death had come into The Asp only a month ago, and the heavy pall of fear still hung in the air, thick and ominous. Mari tried not to dwell, tried not to remember the mind-numbing fear she’d felt as the purists led everyone into the back rooms. Thank the gods the night had just begun and few were in the bar that night, or it could have been worse, but not by much.
Without warning they’d seized two of Marcus Valerian’s enforcers unawares. She’d tried desperately to block out the sight of the men bound to chairs with silver chains, the odor of flesh sizzling as they bit into unprotected skin. The agonized sounds of Christophe and Cody’s torture still brought bile crawling up her throat.
Mari owed her friend Marcus, leader of the enforcers, her life. Being powerless to help his men shamed her. The memory of their suffering filled her with a hopeless rage. A burning need for retribution was not new to her, yet it made her uncomfortable all the same. It brought back a shit-load of painful memories best forgotten. Of a life before she turned vampire. Her life in Egypt as Cleopatra’s handmaiden flashed in her mind, cut short by an asp all because her queen demanded her handmaidens die with her. Most people born slaves would have been honored to rise to such a position. Not her. She wanted the freedom to make her own decisions.
Waking as a
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