Third Strike by Heather Brewer Page A

undergrowth. It seemed to be just Joss in the woods, nothing more. But he knew that was not true.
    Joss scanned the area around him, and as he turned his head to the right, he saw it. That vital piece of evidence that he’d been looking for. That thing that told him that he was on the right path to locating whoever—or whatever—had attacked that man on the boardwalk. On the leaf of a low-growing fern, there on the forest floor, was a single, fresh droplet of blood.
    He knelt beside it to get a better look. There was no denying how fresh it was, but he could only guess that it had come from the wounded man. He only hoped that the attacker hadn’t been Sirus. But there was only one way to find out. Standing, his fingers gripping his stake, Joss straightened his shoulders and called out, “Sirus? It’s Joss.”
    There was a slight breeze, barely enough to move a few of Joss’s hairs out of his eyes. He might not have noticed it, except there had been nothing before it at all, giving weight to the action. Suddenly, a vampire was standing just inches from him, staring him down with a gleam in his eye that suggested that he was hungry, or angry, or both. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Joss. But I’m not Sirus.”
    Joss tried to bring his stake up, but the beast moved with that unbelievable vampire speed again, grabbing Joss by the wrist that held the stake. He shook his head slowly. “You don’t want to start anything with me, boy. Trust me.”
    As quickly as he could move, Joss rolled his wrist to the outside, breaking the vampire’s grip. He brought the stake around, aiming for its chest, but as he did so, the vampire swore. It shoved Joss hard, sending him flying. A moment later, Joss struck a tree’s trunk with his back. When he hit, his lungs seized momentarily, knocking the wind from him. At the same time, his hand opened, releasing the stake. It fell to the ground, but Joss had no idea where. As his body collapsed to the forest floor, he searched, but it was gone. He was unarmed and completely unsure of how he was going to get out of this situation.
    The nameless vampire jumped, coming at him, but Joss rolled to his right before springing to his feet. As he did, he turned and brought his foot up, roundhouse kicking the creature in the side. The force of his kick sent the surprised vampire into a nearby tree. Thinking quickly, Joss grabbed it by the shoulder and threw it into another tree.
    Only the vampire was thinking quicker.
    With surprising grace, it planted its feet on the tree trunk and ran up the side of the tree before flipping over and landing behind Joss. As Joss turned to face it, the creature caught him with a right hook. As its fist met with Joss’s cheek, it felt like his head had exploded. Pain vibrated through his skull. But he wasn’t going to let pain stand in his way.
    Joss spun around, backhanding the beast. As it stumbled, Joss caught it in the ribs with his knee. The vampire tumbled to the ground, where Joss kicked it hard in the side. Angrily, it shouted up at him, “Stop, Joss! You don’t know what you’re doing!”
    Miraculously, his stake was lying right beside the vampire. Joss grabbed it and raised it in the air as quickly as he could. “For you, Cecile.”
    He planted his stake hard in the vampire’s chest. The vampire screamed, clutching at the wood, his eyes full of disbelief. Then, as the light was leaving its eyes, it said, “Be careful, little Slayer. I’m not the worst thing in these woods.”
    Joss sat back, panting from their fight. He was about to ask the vampire what it had meant, when he realized that it was dead. He looked around the woods, with the question instead in his eyes.

10
    CAUGHT IN THE ACT
    J oss had no idea how he was supposed to request a cleanup without a cell phone, but it was probably a good idea that he stop by Paty’s house on the way home to report